Lyabedzka: Political prisoner Statkevich will be a presidential candidate

On November 25, Anatol Lyabedzka, leader of the United Civil Party, made a statement at a press conference in Minsk. According to him, the political prisoner Mikola Statkevich (he has been behind bars since December 2010) will be a candidate for the Belarusian presidency. "We will support him. We are ready to nominate him as a candidate, but we understand that he will not be registered," said Lyabedzka.

Another presidential candidate will be Anatol Lyabedzka himself. But he reserves the right to withdraw from the elections. The initiative group for nominating presidential candidates can be already created this year.

Honorary Chairman of the UCP Stanislau Bagdankevich said that if the political forces that stand for holding the Congress of Democratic Forces (for the election of a single presidential candidate), do not have their own candidates, then there is no sense in this event.

The presidential election in Belarus will be held in 2015.

Mikola Statkevich is 58 years old. He is a reserved lieutenant-colonel and former presidential candidate, leader of the Social Democratic movement. In May 2011, he was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment for "organizing mass disorder" on December 19, 2010 in Minsk. The political prisoner is in Mahilyou prison #4. Liberation of Statkevich, as well as other political prisoners, is demanded from the Belarusian authorities by EU and the US administration.

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