Belarus frees Nobel Peace Prize laureate, opposition leader, other political prisoners

VILNIUS, Lithuania — Belarusian authorities on Saturday freed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, key opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova and other prominent political prisoners, a human rights group confirmed.Their release comes as authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko seeks to improve relations with Washington.The US earlier on Saturday announced lifting sanctions on the country’s potash sector.

In exchange, Lukashenko pardoned a total of 123 prisoners, the Belta state news agency reported.A close ally of Russia, Minsk has faced Western isolation and sanctions for years.Lukashenko has ruled the nation of 9.5 million 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 invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Belarus has released hundreds of prisoners since July 2024.John Coale, the US special envoy for Belarus, announced the lifting of sanctions on potash after meeting Lukashenko in Minsk on Friday and Saturday.Speaking with journalists, Coale described the two-day talks as “very productive,” Belarus’ state news agency Belta reported Saturday.He said that normalizing relations between Washington and Minsk was “our goal.”“We’re lifting sanctions, releasing prisoners.

We’re constantly talking to each other,” he said, according to Belta.He also said that the relationship between the countries was moving from “baby steps to more confident steps” as they increased dialogue.Pavel Sapelka, an advocate with the Viastan rights group, confirmed to The Associated Press that Bialiatski and Kolesnikova were released from prison.Human rights advocate Bialiatski won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, along with the prominent Russian rights group Memorial and Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties.Bialiatski, awarded the prize while in jail awaiting trial, was later convicted of smuggling as well ...