Aged 63, Ales Bialiatski founded in 1996 and for years led Viasna (“Spring”), the leading human rights group and a key source of information on repression in the Eastern European country.
Belarusian activists Ales Bialiatski, Nobel Peace Prize winner 2022, and Maria Kolesnikova were released from prison, human rights organizations announced, after the President authorized the release of 123 prisoners, in exchange for the lifting of US sanctions.
The release of the detainees was advanced by the state agency Belta, information already confirmed by the opposition and human rights groups, such as the non-governmental organization (NGO) Viasna, founded by Ales Bialiatski.
These two opposition figures had been detained in Belarus for more than four years.
Aged 63, Ales Bialiatski founded in 1996 and for years led Viasna (“Spring”), the leading human rights group and a key source of information on repression in the Eastern European country.
Graduated in music, Maria Kolesnikova, 43, was one of the leaders of the massive protests against the re-election of Alexander Lukashenko in 2020, considered fraudulent.
Both were arrested during the brutal repression of this protest movement and sentenced to long prison terms.
During his detention, 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, he feels well,” Bialiatski’s wife, Natalia Pinchuk, told AFP.
However, the NGOs also announced the release of opponent Viktor Babariko.
Shortly before Lukashenko’s decision became known, the United States announced that it would lift some trade sanctions against Belarus, particularly in the potash sector, one of the country’s biggest sources of income, in the latest sign of easing relations between Washington and the isolated autocracy.
Lukashenko pardoned “123 citizens from different countries” After these discussions with the United States, the Poul Pervogo account, affiliated with the Belarusian presidency, was announced on the Telegram platform, without providing the names of those released.
“In accordance with the agreements reached with the President of the United States, Donald Trump, and at his request, regarding the lifting of illegal sanctions against the Belarusian potash industry imposed by the administration of the former US President [Joe] Biden (…) the head of state decided to pardon 123 citizens of different countries convicted under the laws of the Republic of Belarus for various crimes, including espionage, terrorism and extremist activities”, announced the Belarusian presidency.
US special envoy for Belarus John Coale met today and Friday with the country’s authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko for talks in the Belarusian capital, Minsk.
“I think it’s a good step. Let’s get up [as sanções] immediately,” Coale said after meeting with Lukashenko, before confirming that if negotiations to secure the release of political prisoners in Belarus continue favorably, as Saturday’s latest shipment demonstrated, Trump will lift further sanctions.
“As relations between the two countries normalize, more and more sanctions will be lifted,” Coale added.
Taking into account the decisions taken by the President of Belarus at the end of November, the total number of people pardoned is now 156, including citizens of the United Kingdom, the United States, Lithuania, Ukraine, Latvia, Australia and Japan.
A close ally of Russia, Belarus has faced Western isolation and sanctions for years.
Lukashenko has ruled the nation of 9.5 million people with an iron fist for more than three decades, and the country has been repeatedly sanctioned by Western countries, both for its crackdown on human rights and for allowing Moscow to use its territory in the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Belarus, which seeks to improve relations with Washington, has released hundreds of prisoners since July 2024.
