Marina Statkevich said that she and Nikolai Statkevich had never discussed the possibility of leaving Belarus. According to her, for their family such a scenario was out of the question by default.
She recalled that back in 2015, when Nikolai was released after a previous prison term, many people stopped him in the streets to shake his hand. Many of them asked whether he would leave the country or abandon his supporters. Marina said that Nikolai always gave the same answer: he was not going anywhere.
Marina learned that Nikolai was no longer in the penal colony from her son Yura. She said his message may have arrived even before the first media reports. He wrote to her in a messenger app, and she immediately called him back.
Yura was shouting: “Mom, he is coming back!” At first I did not understand who was coming back or where. Then he explained: Nikolai is being taken out of the country, and he is returning to Belarus.
Marina said that almost immediately after jumping out of the bus, Nikolai tried to call her from someone else’s phone, but could not get through because her number was switched off and she was outside Belarus at the time.
Nikolai then called Yura. Later, Marina dictated to her son the phone number of a woman who was with her, and they were finally able to speak: Nikolai called from a stranger’s phone to another stranger’s phone. Marina said that in that moment she heard the same voice, the same confidence, and the same love.