Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has pardoned and freed 123 prisoners, including laureates Ales Bialiatski, Maria Kalesnikava, and Viktor Babariko, as part of a deal with his US counterpart, Donald Trump, officials said. Washington is likely to lift “illegal sanctions” against the country’s fertiliser sector.
The move was announced after Lukashenka and Trump’s special envoy John Cole held two days of detailed talks aimed at “lifting sanctions and freeing prisoners”. After the meeting, Cole said, “We talked about the future, about how to move forward on a path of rapprochement between the United States and Belarus to normalise relations.”
The pardoning of the 123 prisoners was confirmed by the Belarusian presidency later in the day. The release is a part of an arrangement between the two sides aimed at easing sanctions on the potassium industry imposed during the Biden administration.
The statement from the Belarusian presidency stated that “The head of state has decided to pardon 123 citizens of various countries convicted under the laws of the Republic of Belarus for committing crimes of various types – espionage, terrorist, and extremist activities.” While the majority of the pardoned individuals are of Belarusian origin, there are citizens of the US, the UK, Lithuania, Ukraine, Latvia, Australia, and Japan among the released.
Reports on Sunday indicated that the multiple opposition figures who were arrested after the 2020 presidential elections would also be released in the coming days. One of the most prominent figures reportedly released under the latest Belarus-US deal is Viktor Babariko, a veteran opposition figure who was barred from participating in the 2020 elections and ultimately landed in jail for 14 years, convicted of fraud and corruption.
