Vilnius, Lithuania, Dec 15 (UNI) Altogether 123 political prisoners, including Nobel Peace prize winner Ales Bialiatski, have been released from jails after US lifted sanctions on Belarus.
Among the released Belarusian prisoners were opposition politicians, human rights activists and journalists, such as Maria Kolesnikova, the protest leader with a famous red-lipsticked smile, was on the release list.
A video of her jumping for joy and hugging other former prisoners, overjoyed to be reunited, was soon flying around social media. Then came another, on a bus out of Belarus, where she thanked everyone who’d helped bring this moment about, reports BBC.
“It’s a feeling of incredible happiness to see those who are dear to me, to hug them and realise we are all free,” Masha, as she’s best known, told the camera, her lips already painted red again.
The first sunset of her freedom was a thing of great beauty, she said.
“But I also think of those who are not yet free and I await the moment when we can all embrace, when all are free.”
In addition to them is Viktor Babaryka, a banker who tried to run for president in 2020 but was locked up before the elections even began.
The Nobel Peace prize winner Ales Bialiatski has also been released from a 10-year sentence.
All were imprisoned for their opposition to the authoritarian rule of Alexander Lukashenko, whose security forces crushed the mass protests of 2020 with brutal force. They were the biggest challenge to his rule that he has ever faced.
The prisoners’ release now is the result of long and complex negotiations led by the US that culminated in a two-day visit to Minsk this week by Donald Trump’s new special envoy, John Coale.
For Lukashenko, that engagement itself is a win as he is clearly happy to be back on talking terms with the US, ending his political isolation following the crackdown on protesters.
However, it’s not entirely clear what Trump has to gain from this. Belarus is a close ally of Russia, including in its war on Ukraine, and the move comes as the US has been re-engaging with Moscow too, seeking a peace deal.
Belarusian political prisoners released from jail after US lifts sanctions
