Another 122 political prisoners were also released; President Alexander Lukashenko has arrested thousands of his opponents, critics and protesters since the 2020 elections
The leader of street protests in Belarus, Maria Kolesnikova, and the winner of the Ales Bialiatski were released this Saturday (13), along with 121 other political prisoners, in an unprecedented agreement brokered by the . “Our struggle continues, and the Nobel Prize was, I think, a certain recognition of our activity, of our aspirations that have not yet come true,” Bialiatski told the media in an interview in Vilnius. “So the fight continues,” he added.
He received the award in 2022, while still in prison. After being taken out of prison, he said he was put on a bus and blindfolded until they reached the Lithuanian border.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has arrested thousands of his opponents, critics and protesters since the 2020 elections, which rights groups say were rigged and sparked weeks of protests that nearly toppled him. Lukashenko’s imprisoned opponents are often held incommunicado in a prison system notorious for its secrecy and harsh treatment.
Kolesnikova was the star of the 2020 movement that posed the most serious challenge to Lukashenko in his 30 years in power. She famously ripped up her passport when the KGB tried to deport her from the country.
Bialiatski, a 63-year-old veteran human rights defender and winner of the 2022 Nobel Prize, is considered by Lukashenko as a personal enemy. He has documented human rights violations in the country, a close ally of Moscow, for decades. He received the award in 2022, while still in prison. After being taken out of prison, he said he was put on a bus and blindfolded until they reached the Lithuanian border.
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“I am thinking about those who are not yet free and I am very much looking forward to the time when we can all hug each other, when we can all see each other and when we will all be free,” she said in a video interview with a Ukrainian government agency. According to the Nobel committee, there are still more than 1,200 political prisoners in the country. “His continued detention clearly illustrates the systemic repression that continues in the country,” said President Jorgen Watne Frydnes.
*With information from AFP
