Lukashenko pardons 123 prisoners after sanctions against Belarus are removed, including Nobel Peace Prize winner

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Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has pardoned 123 prisoners of various nationalities following the lifting of US sanctions on Belarusian potassium.

Among those released are Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski and eight other prisoners already in Lithuania; another group was released in Ukraine.

This measure responds to agreements reached with former US President Donald Trump and aims to accelerate the normalization of international relations and stabilization in Europe.

Belarus had been under sanctions since 2020 for its repression of opposition protests and its support for Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.

The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenkotoday pardoned 123 prisoners of different nationalities after the United States lifted sanctions on Belarusian potassium on Saturday. Among those released is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate: Alès Bialiatski.

“The Republic of Belarus has taken the decision to pardon 123 citizens of different countries convicted (…) for commit crimes of different types such as espionage, terrorism and extremism,” the presidential press service told the agency. BELT.

The note underlines that the decision “is framed by the agreements concluded with the President of the United States, Donald Trump”, whose emissary, John Coleheld consultations between this Saturday and Friday with Lukashenko in Minsk.

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Furthermore, the statement adds that the measure responds “to the cancellation of illegal sanctions against the Belarusian potassium sector adopted by the Administration of the former US president, Joe Biden“.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski and eight other prisoners are already in Lithuania, while a larger group has traveled to Ukraine, according to the US embassy in Vilnius.

In total, since last month, the Belarusian leader has pardoned 156 citizens of countries like United States, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Australia, Japan, Lithuania and Latvia.

The measure, according to the official note, aims to accelerate the positive dynamic in relations with the country’s partners and with a view to stabilizing the situation in Europe.

Shortly before publication, Cole announced the lifting of this country’s potassium sanctions, introduced by Washington in 2021. In September, USA has already lifted sanctions against the Belarusian national airline, Belaviasanctioned in 2022.

Normalization between the two countries began in August, when Lukashenko spoke by telephone with the American president, who asked his Belarusian counterpart release all political prisoners after the release from prison last June of a group of dissidents, including the leader of the opposition, Sergei Tikhanovsky.

Belarus, country chaired by Lukashenko since 1994has been subject to sanctions since the violent repression of massive opposition demonstrations against the 2020 electoral fraud, measures which increased with Minsk’s open support for the Russian military campaign in 2020. Ukraine two years later.