VILNIUS, Sept 12 (Reuters) – Belarusian prisoners launched from jail on Thursday and exiled to Lithuania in a U.S.-brokered deal informed Reuters they had been confused over having to go away their house nation, particularly as many had been virtually resulting from be freed anyway.
Belarus freed 52 prisoners together with an EU worker after an attraction from U.S. President Donald Trump, as Washington and Minsk contemplate a rapprochement that many European leaders have seen with scepticism.
The exiled opposition says freed political prisoners ought to have the correct to remain in Belarus moderately than undergo what it says are in impact pressured deportations.
“I wanted (to go) home, to my home in Belarus. They brought me here,” one of many launched prisoners, Aleksandr Mantsevich, informed Reuters exterior the U.S. embassy in Vilnius, the place he was pushed from Belarus jail.
About half of the prisoners launched on Thursday by longtime Belarusian chief Alexander Lukashenko had been virtually on the finish of their jail phrases, stated senior opposition official Franak Viacorka.
“Just imagine, they were looking forward to getting free soon, and suddenly they find themselves deported, separated from family, they don’t have passports, and they can’t go back,” he stated.
Kevin Dietsch through Getty Photos
Opposition politician Mikola Statkevich, probably the most distinguished of these launched, refused to enter Lithuania on Thursday and went again to Belarus.
Marina Adamovic, his spouse who’s in Belarus, informed Reuters on Friday she had no contact with him since then.
Opposition official Viacorka stated he would most likely be rearrested.
“Lukashenko’s regime has a problem, because he was officially released from jail, but they cannot allow him to go home in Belarus. They will probably give him another criminal case,” Viacorka stated.
Opposition chief Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who herself lives in exile, stated the West ought to demand that Lukashenko permits former political prisoners to remain within the nation.
“People have to have right to stay in Belarus,” she stated.
Exterior the U.S. embassy in Vilnius, many stated they sympathised with Statkevich’s determination to not go away.
“I want to go back home. I cannot imagine my life without Belarus. I want to go home,” Iryna Slaunikava, an opposition journalist who spent two years and eight months in jail, informed Reuters.
“I don’t know if this is safe, but I really want to go home. I served out almost all of my sentence, with four months remaining, haven’t I earned the right to live at home?” she requested, crying.
One other former prisoner, Pavel Vinogradov stated he was resulting from meet his son for the primary time in 4 years on Saturday, however as a substitute discovered himself in Lithuania.
“Yesterday, when they put a sack on my head and took me somewhere, I knew I am getting out”, he stated. “I hope my wife eventually comes here, and I meet my son in the European Union.”
