WARSAW
\nA Belarusian dissident who refused to leave his home country after being released from prison there earlier this week has gone missing, Belarus\u2019s exiled opposition leader said Friday.
\nMikola Statkevich, who ran against Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko in 2010 presidential elections, had been in jail for five years.
\nThe 69-year-old was among 52 political prisoners freed on Thursday in a deal brokered by the United States, but unlike the other prisoners, he chose to remain in Belarus after his release, rights groups reported.
\n\u201cWe are very worried about the fate of Mikola Statkevich, who refused to leave Belarus,\u201d opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said at a press conference in Vilnius with some of the other freed prisoners.
\nShe said his whereabouts were now \u201cunknown,\u201d without elaborating.
\nTikhanovskaya thanked the United States for brokering the release but noted it did not mean \u201creal freedom\u201d for the prisoners, calling it a \u201cforced deportation.\u201d
\nEveryone who is released should have \u201cthe right to choose, either to stay or to leave. And I spoke about this yesterday with our American partners, and we are pushing on that,\u201d she added.
\nSome of the prisoners who attended Friday appeared to have had their heads shaven.
\nMany were detained during a brutal crackdown on opposition in the wake of Lukashenko\u2019s 2020 re-election and prosecuted on what rights groups have denounced as politically motivated charges.
\nAlso freed was a staff member with the EU delegation in Minsk and nine journalists and bloggers, including a reporter for US-funded Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty.
\n\u201cThere is no reason why journalists and voices of political dissent should be silenced,\u201d RFE\/RL president Stephen Capus said in Vilnius.
\n\u201cWe appreciate your bravery and your dedication, and the struggle continues,\u201d he told the released prisoners.
\nRights groups estimate that around 1,000 political prisoners remain behind bars in Belarus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WARSAW A Belarusian dissident who refused to leave his home country after being released from prison there earlier this week has gone missing, Belarus\u2019s exiled opposition leader said Friday. Mikola Statkevich, who ran against Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko in 2010 presidential elections, had been in jail for five years. The 69-year-old was among 52 political […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":502555,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-502541","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n