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.
