MADRID, 13 (EUROPA PRESSE)
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko pardoned 123 political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski, after the United States lifted sanctions on Belarusian potash ore exports.
Bialiatski is the founder of the NGO Viasna Human Rights Center, which specializes in monitoring the human rights situation in Belarus, and it is this organization that confirmed this publication on its website. In addition, the former vice-president of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Valiantsin Stefanovich, as well as the lawyer Uladzimir Labkovich were also released.
The Leninsky Court in Minsk sentenced the Belarusian Nobel Peace Prize winner to ten years in prison in 2023 for smuggling and belonging to an organized group.
“In accordance with the agreements reached with the President of the United States, Donald Trump, and at his request, in connection with the lifting of illegal sanctions against the Belarusian potash industry imposed by the administration of former American President (Joe) Biden (…) the head of state decided to pardon 123 citizens of various countries convicted under the laws of the Republic of Belarus for various crimes, including espionage, terrorism and activities extremists”, announced the Belarusian presidency.
The announcement of the lifting of sanctions was made by Trump’s envoy to the country, John Coale, in a gesture to the Russian president’s great ally, Vladimir Putin, who is unlocking one of the country’s biggest sources of revenue.
“It seems to me to be a good step. We are going to lift them now,” Coale said after his meeting with Lukashenko, before confirming that if the negotiations to obtain the release of political prisoners in Belarus continue favorably, as demonstrated by the latest delivery this Saturday, Trump will gradually withdraw the other sanctions.
“As relations between the two countries normalize, more and more sanctions will be lifted,” Coale added in this regard.
Taking into account the decisions taken by the Belarusian President at the end of November, the total number of people pardoned now stands at 156. Among them are citizens of the United Kingdom, the United States, Lithuania, Ukraine, Latvia, Australia and Japan.
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