Mykola Statkevich, political prisoner, former presidential candidate of Belarus celebrated 57th birthday. Currently, he is serving a prison sentence in Mogilev prison No. 4. What now matters to him most is support and solidarity – says his wife Maryna Adamovich.
Radio Racyja: How did you meet? Why did you take interest in Mykola?
Maryna Adamovich: This is a very intimate question. Our mutual friend, Mykola Michnovski, literally bleated me with the stories about how Mykola Statkevich is a “great guy” and how “he recently founded the Belarusian Association of Military”. We met a long time ago, on birthday party of that Mykola Michnovski. At that time there was a lot of many beautiful, young officers, representatives of the Belarusian Union of Officers.
RR: What do you think about Mykola Statkevich as a politician?
Maryna Adamovich: I will express my subjective opinion, but I think that today, those who are behind bars, including Mykola, are the people really involved in politics in Belarus. Only they, no matter the cost, the price of their freedom and health, and to some extent also of life, defend the ideals of democracy and opportunity for democracy in Belarus.
RR: When do you expect Mykola to be released?
Maryna Adamovich: I look forward to it every day, but every signal that gives hope, seems to extend his sentence.
RR: There are opinions that the authorities should not be pressed to rehabilitate political prisoners, but only to release them. How do you see that?
Maryna Adamovich: There are important rules, which should not be abandoned if you want any future for this country. Every man has the right to a fair trial, to freedom, an innocent man who was imprisoned has the right to rehabilitation. I think we are talking about one of the basic human rights. Departing from it in the name of the temporary and relatively uncertain possibilities is not allowed. And what has been done for these people to be released?
Mykola points out that regardless of the situation and possibilities rehabilitation of all victims of a judicial or administrative political repression should be a basic demand. That position is supported by the life and activities of all prisoners. If many of them withstood three years, and Mikola Autukhovich withstood almost five it means that they have complete confidence in their arguments and their right to be called the real people.
RR: What was the most difficult moment in the entire period and how you survived it?
Maryna Adamovich: The hardest moment was when I could not get any information, between mid-July and the beginning of December 2011, when from Mykola came not even one letter. Two of his political letters came illegally, then within a week it was decided that he deliberately violated the rules of the prison. He was twice sentenced to solitary confinement, and after a month he was transferred to a prison in Mogilev.
RR: Was there a moment when you felt defeated by such a fate?.
Maryna Adamovich: Nonsense. Not once.
RR: What principles and character traits allow Mykola to withstand all this?
Maryna Adamovich: Unshakable faith in the taken path, which sounds pathetic, but he actually has chosen his love for life and that is Belarus. For its future, he does and will do everything possible. He was ready to accept his fate. In spite of the hardships he continues to be romantic.
In addition, he is representative of the old families of Belarus. Mykola remembers 14 or even 15 branches of his family tree, reaching even to the sixteenth century.
If a person is aware of the fact that behind him/her are the generations of ancestors who fought for homeland, this awareness strengthens. That is why he is able to restore in Belarusians the memory of what they have and what is worth fighting for, that behind them stand centuries and generations of people fighting for the land. So everything that the so-called power wants to deprive us of. Because it creates the impression that life began after 1994.
racyja.com
