Belarus Releases 250 Political Inmates 03/20 06:17

   

   TALLINN, Estonia (AP) -- Belarus' authoritarian President Alexander 
Lukashenko on Thursday ordered the release of 250 political prisoners as part 
of a deal with Washington that lifted some U.S. sanctions, the latest step in 
the isolated leader's effort to improve ties with the West.

   Lukashenko pardoned the prisoners after meeting with U.S. President Donald 
Trump's special envoy for Belarus, John Coale, in the Belarus capital of Minsk. 
Coale hailed the release as a "significant humanitarian milestone" and a 
testament to Trump's "commitment to direct, hard-nosed diplomacy." It marked 
the largest one-time release of political prisoners in the country.

   Coale told reporters that the U.S. will lift sanctions from two Belarusian 
state banks and the country's Finance Ministry, and that the top Belarusian 
potash producers have been removed from a sanctions list.

   Belarus' opposition leader-in-exile, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, hailed the 
prisoners' release as "a moment of great relief and hope."

   "After years of isolation, people are now free and can finally embrace their 
loved ones," Tsikhanouskaya told The Associated Press. "There is nothing more 
powerful than seeing someone who endured unjust imprisonment reunited with 
their family."

   She thanked Trump and his officials for their "tireless efforts to secure 
the release of political prisoners," adding that "these humanitarian efforts 
are saving lives."

   The last time U.S. officials met with Lukashenko, in December, Washington 
announced the easing of sanctions on Belarus' potash sector, a key source of 
export revenue, and 123 prisoners were released and sent to Ukraine and 
Lithuania.

   A close ally of Russia, Minsk has faced isolation 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 sanctioned repeatedly by Western countries -- both for 
its crackdown on human rights and for allowing Moscow to use its territory in 
the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

   Lukashenko's rule was challenged after a 2020 presidential election, when 
tens of thousands poured into the streets to protest a vote they viewed as 
rigged. They were the largest demonstrations since Belarus became independent 
following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

   In an ensuing crackdown, tens of thousands were detained, with many beaten 
by police. Prominent opposition figures either fled the country or were 
imprisoned.

   Five years after the mass demonstrations, Lukashenko won a seventh term last 
year in an election that the opposition called a farce.

   More recently, Belarus has freed some political prisoners to try to win 
favor with the West. Since Trump returned to the White House last year, 
Lukashenko has released dozens of prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize 
laureate Ales Bialiatski and key dissident figures Siarhei Tsikhanouski, Viktar 
Babaryka and Maria Kolesnikova.

   Trump spoke to Lukashenko by phone in August 2025 after one such release and 
even suggested a face-to-face meeting in what would be a big victory for the 
Belarusian leader, who has been dubbed "Europe's Last Dictator."

   Dzianis Kuchynski, an adviser to Tsikhanouskaya, said that 15 of the 250 
prisoners arrived in Lithuania following their release.

   They included Valiantsin Stefanovich and Marfa Rabkova of the prominent 
Belarus human rights group Viasna. Stefanovich was serving a nine-year sentence 
on charges of smuggling money to finance activities violating the public order 
after his arrest in 2023. Rabkova was sentenced to 14 years and nine months 
following her 2020 arrest and conviction on charges of organizing riots and 
inciting hatred, accusations widely seen as a punishment for documenting human 
rights abuses.

   Nasta Loika, 37, an activist with the international rights group Human 
Constanta, was also released. She was sentenced to seven years in prison after 
her arrest in 2022 on charges of organizing mass unrest and inciting hatred - 
charges widely seen as retaliation for her activism.

   Also freed was Katsiaryna Bakhvalava, 32, who also goes by the last name of 
Andreyeva, a journalist of the Polish-funded Belsat TV channel who was arrested 
in 2020 while covering mass anti-government protests in Minsk. She was 
sentenced to more than eight years in prison on convictions for violating 
public order and treason.

   Eduard Palchys, a 35-year-old opposition blogger, was also among those 
pardoned by Lukashenko. He was convicted of causing harm to Belarus' national 
security and organizing mass unrest over his role in coordinating the 
demonstrations in 2020. and sentenced to 13 years in prison.

   Like previously released prisoners, they were all sent to Lithuania without 
passports or other identity papers. Kuchynski denounced it as a "mockery" by 
Belarusian authorities seeking to make the lives of the released prisoners more 
abroad more difficult.

   Just before the latest announcement of releases, the Viasna group had 
estimated that there were more than 1,100 political prisoners in the country.

   Tsikhanouskaya emphasized that "many people are still behind bars" and "our 
goal remains unchanged -- to free them all and to put a final end to 
repression, so that every Belarusian can live freely in their own country."