Presidential candidate and former KGB prisoner Aliaksei Mikhalevich fled from Belarus

The presidential candidate has written in his blog that now he is in the place “out of reach for the KGB”.

On 14 March a new message appeared in the blog of Ales Mikhalevich: “I am summoned to the KGB for Investigative actions. I have grounds to believe that I would not be able to leave the building of the KGB any more. So I’m not going to visit the KGB. Now I am in a safe place out of reach of the Belarusian KGB. I am going to continue the work on putting an end to tortures and release of everyone who are unlawfully imprisoned on political reasons.”

For Freedom movement informs that Mikhalevich managed to leave the country in the night, and the trip to the “safe place” took 24 hours. His family is left in Minsk. “I have only one reason which justifies my steps – it is a real physical threat,” Mikhalevich said to the website of the movement. “Everyone sees that these people are ready to go any length, there is no legality and transparency and in their actions.”

The politician is an accused in the so-called 19 December mass riots criminal case (Article 293 of the Criminal Code). He was detained on 20 December overnight. In two months, on 19 February, he was released from the KGB jail on a written recognizance not to leave.

At his press-conference in Minsk on 28 February Mr. Mikhalevich stated that he had been released from the KGB pre-trial detention center after his pledge to collaborate. As said by the politician, he had been forced to make this step “because of awful incarceration conditions in the KGB jail, which could be regarded as tortures.” As stated by Mikhalevich, he was put on a stretch in handcuffs; taken out into the cold; forced to stand against a wall for 40 minutes; electric light was not switched off at night; floor in the cell was painted with acetone-based paint, the prisoners were forced to breathe it in; they were kept in an overcrowded cell.