Mikola Viktaravich Statkevich is a Belarusian politician and presidential candidate at the 2010 election.
18 Facts About Mikola Statkevich
2.
On 14 December 2021, Statkevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
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Mikola Statkevich was born in Liadna near Slutsk into a family of school teachers.
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Mikola Statkevich is a descendant of the Statkiewicz noble family.
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Mikola Statkevich graduated from a military engineering school in Minsk and served in the Soviet antiaircraft defense in the Arctic region.
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In 1991 Mikola Statkevich has left the Communist Party of the USSR as a protest against a brutal Soviet military action against the democratic pro-independence opposition in Lithuania.
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In 1993 Mikola Statkevich was actively protesting against Belarus joining a collective defence treaty with Azerbaijan and Armenia that were at war at a time, to prevent Belarusian soldiers serving in military conflicts outside the country.
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Mikola Statkevich then became one of the leaders of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party, including the party's chairman since 1995.
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Mikola Statkevich was one of the leaders of the 1999 Freedom March against the Union State.
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In 2005 Mikola Statkevich was sentenced to three years of labour for organising mass protests against the 2004 referendum in Belarus that has lifted the constitutional limit on presidential terms and allowed president Aliaksandr Lukashenka to again participate in presidential elections.
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Mikola Statkevich was then set free in 2007 following an amnesty.
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Mikola Statkevich was one of many democratic candidates who ran in the 2010 Belarusian presidential election.
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Amnesty International reported in July 2012 that Mikola Statkevich had been moved to a "punishment cell" after refusing to sign a confession.
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Mikola Statkevich was later released from imprisonment but disappeared in early 2017 after announcing a planned demonstration in central Minsk.
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Mikola Statkevich was again released by authorities after they violently suppressed the rally.
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Mikola Statkevich was sentenced to 15 days for participating in an unsanctioned protest.
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On 14 December 2021, Mikola Statkevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
18.
In December 2020, Mikola Statkevich was named among the representatives of the Democratic Belarusian opposition, honored with the Sakharov Prize by the European Parliament.