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Belarus: UN experts denounce disappearance of Mikalai Statkevich after his attempted deportation

Press releases
Special Procedures

23 September 2025

GENEVA ---A group of UN independent experts* today strongly denounced the attempted deportation from Belarus and the subsequent disappearance of Mikalai Statkevich, a prominent opposition politician aged 69.

"There are solid reasons to believe that Statkevich is a victim of enforced disappearance and arbitrary detention. We call on Belarus to provide information about his fate and whereabouts, as well as on his state of health," the experts said.

On 11 September 2025, Mikalai Statkevich was brought to the border with Lithuania, along with 51 other prisoners who received a presidential pardon under an agreement brokered between Belarus and the United States of America. Yet, as Statkevich refused to cross the border to Lithuania and walked back to Belarus from the neutral zone, he was reportedly followed by masked Belarusian policemen. Reports later emerged in the media about his return to the penal colony where he had been serving his prison sentence. Yet, the penitentiary administration denied it when his family approached the colony.

Mikalai Statkevich was apprehended in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election and subsequently convicted to 14 years of imprisonment. In 2022, the Ministry of Internal Affairs publicly designated him as a person involved in "extremism". Special Procedures mandate holders have repeatedly written to Belarusian authorities about his alleged ill-treatment in prison, including his incommunicado detention since 9 February 2023, and the devastating effect of this ill-treatment on his health due to his advanced age.

"The attempted expulsion of Mikalai Statkevich from his country violates article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by Belarus on 12 November 1973," the experts said. "It also cannot be excluded that we are dealing with a possible crime under international law," they said, recalling a pending referral by the Republic of Lithuania to the International Criminal Court about alleged crimes against humanity of deportation and persecution on political grounds committed by Belarussian authorities since 2020.

The experts noted that they had repeatedly urged Belarus to amend its anti-extremism legal framework to bring it in line with international human rights standards and called on authorities to end ill-treatment of prisoners convicted on extremism charges. "Belarus must urgently bring its anti-extremism legal framework in line with international human rights standards and end ill-treatment of prisoners convicted on extremism charges," they said.

The experts are in contact with the authorities regarding this case.

*The experts:

• Nils Muižnieks, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus;
• Gabriella Citroni (Chair-Rapporteur), Grażyna Baranowska (Vice-Chair), Aua Baldé, Ana Lorena Delgadillo Pérez and Mohammed Al-Obaidi, Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances;
• Ganna Yudkivska (Chair-Rapporteur), Matthew Gillett (Vice-Chair on Communications), Miriam Estrada Castillo (Vice-Chair on Follow-Up), and Mumba Malila, Working Group on arbitrary detention;
• Ben Saul, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism;
• Claudia Mahler, Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons;

Special Rapporteurs/Independent Experts/Working Groups are independent human rights experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council. Together, these experts are referred to as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. While the UN Human Rights office acts as the secretariat for Special Procedures, the experts serve in their individual capacity and are independent from any government or organization, including OHCHR and the UN. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the UN or OHCHR.

Country-specific observations and recommendations by the UN human rights mechanisms, including the special procedures, the treaty bodies and the Universal Periodic Review, can be found on the Universal Human Rights Index https://uhri.ohchr.org/en/