Belarusian leader pardons 123 prisoners including prominent opposition figures

Belarus has freed protest leader Maria Kolesnikova and Nobel Prize Winner Ales Bialiatski in a major US-brokered deal to release more than 100 of the country’s political prisoners.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has locked up thousands of his opponents, critics and protestors since an election in 2020 that rights groups widely said was rigged and triggered weeks of mass protests across the country.

Rights groups, relatives and state media reported 123 people were freed, including foreign citizens, after a US envoy said that Washington was lifting some sanctions on Minsk, a close ally of Moscow.

“The head of state has decided to pardon 123 citizens of various countries,” the Belarusian state news agency Belta said.

1,613 days in prison 

Rights group Viasna said prominent 2020 protest leader Kolesnikova and its chair Bialiatski were among them.

“Ales Bialiatski is free!,” Viasna said on social media, adding he was being deported to Lithuania after 1,613 days in prison. “I spoke with him, he is travelling to Lithuania, and he is feeling well,” his wife Natalia Pinchuk told AFP.

Bialiatski, a long-time opponent of Lukashenko and rights advocate in the repressive country, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022.

Read moreBialowieza Forest at threat from military tensions along the Poland-Belarus border

Five Ukrainians were among the prisoners released by Belarus, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, expressing gratitude to Washington for aiding their release.

“Thanks to the active role of the United States and the cooperation of our intelligence services, about a hundred people, including five Ukrainians, are now being released,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram.

Read moreLive: Russia claims hypersonic strikes on Ukrainian facilities

We are assisting our American partners to ensure that Ukraine receives the appropriate assistance.” Zelensky said he had told his intelligence services to prioritise agreeing on a new release of Ukrainian POWs held by Russia before the new year.

Russia and Ukraine have conducted regular prisoner swaps since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)