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Investigation Suspended Against Ex-Belarusian Presidential Candidate


Ales Mikhalevich was one of several opposition figures who were arrested and charged with organizing mass riots after challenging authoritarian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka in a 2010 presidential election.
Ales Mikhalevich was one of several opposition figures who were arrested and charged with organizing mass riots after challenging authoritarian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka in a 2010 presidential election.

Belarusian authorities have suspended an investigation against a former presidential candidate who fled Belarus in 2011 and returned last year.

Ales Mikhalevich wrote on Facebook on March 14 that the investigation had been suspended and he had the right to travel out of the country.

"I am on my way to Prague, will be back on Thursday," Mikhalevich wrote.

Mikhalevich was one of several opposition figures who were arrested and charged with organizing mass riots after challenging authoritarian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka in a 2010 presidential election.

He was then released by investigators but asked not to leave the country while an investigation was under way.

Mikhalevich fled to the Czech Republic in early 2011, where he was granted political asylum. He returned to Belarus in 2015 on the eve of October presidential elections, which were again won by Lukashenka.

Mikhalevich's wife and two daughters have lived in Belarus during his absence.

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