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Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has freed jailed opposition chief Sergei Tsikhanouski and greater than a dozen different political prisoners and journalists in a shock transfer brokered by Donald Trump’s particular envoy.
The choice to free Tsikhanouski, who has been imprisoned since difficult Lukashenko for the presidency in 2020, follows a gathering on Saturday between the Belarusian chief and Keith Kellogg, Trump’s particular envoy for Ukraine.
“It’s exhausting to explain the enjoyment in my coronary heart,” mentioned Tsikhanouski’s spouse, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who stepped in to run for election as a substitute of her husband after he was jailed and helped lead massive protests towards Lukashenko.
“We’re not completed. 1,150 political prisoners stay behind bars. All have to be launched,” she added on X, after thanking the US president and European allies.
The 14 prisoners launched on Saturday have been dropped at Lithuania, a neighbouring Baltic state, the place reporters filmed Tsikhanouskaya hugging her husband as he stepped smiling out of a minibus.
A spokesperson for the Lithuanian prime minister mentioned the prisoners have been freed by Lukashenko following an settlement with Kellogg. They embody 5 Belarusians, three Poles, two Latvians and residents of Japan, Sweden and Estonia.
Tsikhanouski was sentenced to 18 years in jail in 2021. A yr earlier, he and different candidates had sought to run towards Lukashenko, the nation’s first and solely president since 1994.
Three girls spearhead the election marketing campaign after his arrest, with Tsikhanouskaya joined by Veronika Tsepkalo, the spouse of one other barred candidate, and Maria Kolesnikova.
Lukashenko claimed victory however the opposition contested the end result, pointing to proof that the vote had been rigged and triggering a wave of protests that rocked the nation for months.
1000’s have been jailed, together with Kolesnikova. She stays imprisoned, as do Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski, opposition chief Viktor Babariko and plenty of others.
Ihar Karnei, a former journalist from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty who labored with the outlet for 20 years and was detained in 2023, was additionally launched, in response to the station.
“We’re deeply grateful to President Trump for securing the discharge of this courageous journalist, who suffered by the hands of the Belarusian authorities,” the media outlet’s chief govt Stephen Capus mentioned.
