Freed Belarus dissident missing after refusing to leave country

WARSAW: A Belarusian dissident who refused to leave his home country after being released from prison there earlier this week has gone missing, Belarus’s exiled opposition leader said Friday. Mikola Statkevich, who ran against Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko in 2010 presidential elections, had been in jail for five years. The 69-year-old was among 52 political prisoners freed on Thursday in a deal brokered by the United States, but unlike the other prisoners, he chose to remain in Belarus after his release, rights groups reported.

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