On the morning of 8 September Mikhalevich returned to Belarus by Vilnius-Minsk train and was detained by border guards in Hudahai as a person on the national wanted list. The boarder guards handed Ales over to the police.

It should be noted that the criminal case against Mikhalevich on the events of the mass protests after the 2010 election haven not been closed. Upon leaving the KGB detention centre in March 2011, Ales Mikhalevich told about numerous instances of abuse and torture, and later went to the Czech Republic, where he received political asylum.

“I think that in “Amerikanka”[KGB Detention Centre] Ales was pressed more than anyone after the events of 19 December 2010, he was treated very cruelly. The reason, oddly enough, was his more soft position among all the opposition candidates who took part in those elections. He was considered a weak link. When I read the case I asked the KGB officers, who were in the office: “Why do you press this guy so much? Apparently, you think that he is weak, that he kept a modest position and didn’t call upon people to protest in the streets?” They laughed and made it clear that this was true. The couldn’t charge him with Ploshcha protests, he had nothing to do with it”, – said the former political prisoner and 2010 presidential election candidate Mikalai Statkevich.

Mikhalevich was released in the afternoon on the pledge not to leave the country, although he did not sign any documents. According to Mikhalevich, it is the first example in the legal history of Belarus, when a man is released on a pledge that he hasn’t signed. At the same time employees of the local police department didn’t inform Mikhalevich about the possible consequences of breaching the pledge.

Now Ales Mikhalevich is going to work in human rights defence: “When I left Belarus, I said that I’m no longer a politician and that I suspend my political activity. Today, I also feel like a man who wants to contribute to ensuring that Belarus respects human rights. So I would say about myself that I’m a person who wants to help himself and to help others in the defense of our rights. As for political plans, I have none. I’m just waiting to meet with my family, children and wife.”

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We remind that Ales Mikhalevich, as most of the other candidates for the presidency in the 2010 election, was detained on the night of 20 December 2010. On 19 February 2011 he was released from the KGB Detention Centre on the pledge not to leave the country, and on 28 he organized the press conference at which he spoke about torture in the Detention Centre.

In March 2011 Mikhalevich secretly left Belarus, citing the threat of “real physical violence,” and after a few weeks, was granted political asylum in the Czech Republic.

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