Last Saturday, Belarusian authorities released by presidential pardon 14 prisoners, all jailed as a result of politically motivated prosecutions, and transferred them to neighboring Lithuania. They include prominent opposition politician Siarhei Tsikhanouski and independent journalists and activists.
Some of those released held foreign passports, including from the United States, Japan, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, and Sweden.
More than 1,000 political prisoners remain behind bars in Belarus.
Tsikhanouski, a popular blogger who aspired to become a presidential candidate, was arrested by the authorities in the run up to the 2020 election. His wife, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, ran for president in his stead and is recognized by many as the winner of the elections rigged by Aliaksandr Lukashenka, who has occupied the president’s office in Belarus since its establishment in 1994. Since then, Sviatlana became an opposition leader in exile and a tireless advocate for her husband, who was sentenced to prison for 19 years and 6 months on bogus criminal charges.
The prisoner release took place the day US Special Envoy Keith Kellogg visited Belarus’ capital, Minsk, and was apparently negotiated by Washington.
Captured on camera, the moment Sviatlana and Sirhei embraced each other after five years apart is truly moving. But the families of at least 1,177 other political prisoners did not find their loved ones among the released.
Since July 2024, Lukashenka has released 314 political prisoners, apparently hoping to thaw his relations with the European Union and the United States. However, politically motivated repression in Belarus continues, and prisoners regularly face ill-treatment and incommunicado confinement.
Tsikhanouski and other released prisoners attested to the prolonged isolation, psychological pressure, and other inhumane treatment that they suffered in Belarusian prisons. Tsikhanouski’s children did not immediately recognize him due to his severe weight loss: a result of malnutrition behind bars.
Those remaining imprisoned and isolated from the world include Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate and founder of Viasna human rights group; Ales Bialiatski, opposition politician Maria Kalesnikava; and journalist Ihar Losik. Some political prisoners have died behind bars, including from denial of adequate medical care.
We don’t know yet what Lukashenka received or hopes to receive in return for releasing Tsikhanouski and the other 13 prisoners. But people’s lives should not be a currency for political bargaining. Belarusian authorities should immediately release all those prosecuted for exercising their human rights and freedoms.