Belarus has released 123 prisoners, including opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova and Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatskias indicated this Saturday by the human rights NGO Viasna. The announcement comes shortly after a US emissary visiting Minsk stated that Washington had lifted sanctions against Belarusian potassium. The Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, “decided to pardon 123 citizens of several countries” after talks with the United States, the Poul Pervogo account, affiliated with the Belarusian presidency, declared on Telegram, without providing the names of the released people.
Bialiatski, 63, founded Viasna (“Spring”) in 1996 and directed it for years.the main human rights group and essential source of information on the repression in this Eastern European country. Kolesnikova, 43 years old and a trained musician, was one of the leaders of the massive demonstrations against Lukashenko’s re-election in 2020, considered fraudulent. Both They were arrested during the brutal repression of this protest movement and sentenced to harsh prison terms. Opponent Viktor Babariko, one of Lukashenko’s main rivals until he was jailed before the 2020 elections, was also released, according to Viasna.
While detained, Ales Bialiatski’s work earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, shared with the NGO Memorial (Russia) and the Center for Civil Liberties (Ukraine). “I spoke to him, he is on his way to Lithuania and he is fine,” his wife, Natalia Pinchuk, told AFP.
Lifting of sanctions
These releases follow the announcement by US envoy John Coale, visiting Belarus, of the lifting of US sanctions on potassium. It is a component used for the manufacture of fertilizers and of which Belarus is a great producer.
In recent months, US President Donald Trump urged Belarus to release the country’s hundreds of political prisoners. Lukashenko, in power for more than 30 years, pardoned dozens of people.
In exchange, Washington had already partially lifted sanctions against the Belarusian airline Belavia. This allowed it to maintain and purchase parts for its fleet, which includes Boeing aircraft.
