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flag Belarus opposition leader Mikalai Statkevich vanished after refusing forced deportation in a U.S.-brokered prisoner swap.

flag Belarus opposition leader Mikalai Statkevich, 69, disappeared in September 2025 after refusing to board a bus to Lithuania during a U.S.-brokered prisoner exchange that freed 52 political prisoners. flag Though pardoned by President Alexander Lukashenko, he remained in Belarus, defying what he called forced deportation. flag Surveillance footage showed him being escorted back into the country by masked security forces at the Lithuanian border. flag His wife and human rights groups, including Viasna and the UN, have raised concerns over his safety and whereabouts, with no official information provided. flag Statkevich, a longtime critic of the regime with a history of imprisonment and health issues, remains unaccounted for, fueling international scrutiny over Belarus’s treatment of political prisoners.

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