Prisoners including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski and prisoner of conscience Maryia Kalesnikava have been released

Reacting to the release by the Belarusian authorities of 123 individuals, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski and Maryia Kalesnikava, prisoner of conscience and subject of Amnesty International’s Write for Rights 2024, Marie Struthers, Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty International, said:

“We welcome reports that Maryia Kalesnikava and Ales Bialiatski are among those have been freed. But let’s be clear: the latest release doesn’t erase a system that still holds hundreds if not thousands of others languishing behind bars merely for speaking out. Nor does it mean justice for Ales, Maryia and all those who should not have spent a day in prison and suffered severe human rights violations.

“Maryia, Ales and all those freed today must receive full reparations for their ordeal. Every official suspected of responsibility for their wrongful imprisonments – no matter how senior – must be held accountable.

“We must also remember others whose release is long overdue. If this release is a part of political bargain, it only underscores the Belarusian authorities’ cynical treatment of people as pawns. The fate of the released and others like them must never depend on backroom deals. We call for the release of Marfa Rabkova, Nasta Loika and countless other prisoners in Belarus who are unjustly jailed on politically motivated grounds.”

Politically motivated abductions and arrests

Today (13 December) the Belarusian authorities released 123 prisoners, including opposition politician Maryia Kalesnikava and Ales Bialiatski, a leading human rights advocate and founder of the Viasna Human Rights Centre, following an agreement with the United States to ease sanctions on the country’s potash exports. The vice chair of Viasna Valiantsin Stefanovich, the organisation’s lawyer Uladzimir Labkovich and Kalesnikava’s close associate Maksim Znak are reportedly among the released.

On 7 September 2020, Maryia Kalesnikava was abducted by masked agents and taken towards the Ukrainian border, where she resisted deportation by tearing up her passport, after which she went missing. Later it transpired that she was arrested, charged with “undermining national security” and other fabricated offences, and on 6 September 2021 she received an 11-year prison sentence.

Ales Bialiatski was convicted in 2023 on charges of “tax evasion” and “financing actions deemed to violate public order” – charges widely seen as politically motivated – and had been serving a 10-year sentence in a penal colony.