General Procuracy refuses to bring a criminal case concerning Aliaksei Mikhalevich’s statement about torture

The ex-presidential candidate Aliaksei Mikhalevich, an accused in the December 19 "mass riot" case as an accused, was arrested in the night of December 20 and released from the KGB pre-trial prison on 19 February on recognizance not to leave.

Mikhalevich summoned a press-conference on 28 February and announced that he had been released upon agreement to become a KGB agent. According to the politician, he was forced to take such a step due to "horrible confinement conditions in the KGB detention center, which can be considered as torture".

Mikhalevich filed a corresponding claim to the General Procuracy asking to "conduct a check-up and stop violence" that very day. On 17 March he was summoned to the General Procuracy for giving explanations. However, the ex-presidential candidate had been abroad by then, in spite of the non-leave obligation. It became known later that Mikhalevich obtained political refuge in the Czech Republic.

Nevertheless, Aliaksei’s wife, Milana Mikhalevich, is still in Belarus. The politician passed through her his readiness to give explanations concerning his statement about torture. On 22 March Milana stated that she had spent three days trying to contact the officer of the General Procuracy who had signed the writ for her husband, in order to discuss the way such explanations could be given.

On 31 March the Prosecutor General, Ryhor Vasilevich, informed journalists that Belarus hadn’t filed a request for extradition of Mikhalevich yet.