Villinias, Lithuania (AP) — Belarus has released 52 prisoners and has moved to Lithuania, the Lithuanian president said Thursday.
Once the release was released, Belarusian state media posted a video of a US envoy that announced that Washington had lifted sanctions on Belarusian national airlines.
Released were six Lithuanians, two Latvians, two Pauls, two Germans, French citizens, one British citizen and 14 foreigners, according to the Belarusian presidential press.
June, Belarus Freed siarhei tsikhanouskithe husband of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, a leading opposition figure and exiled opposition leader, and 13 others after a rare visit by senior envoys from the Trump administration.
“I am deeply grateful to President @Realdonaldtrump, both in the US and personally, for my continued efforts to free political prisoners. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda wrote about X.
Nauseda said the prisoners were “behind barbed wire, windows, constant fear.”
Last month, US President Donald Trump spoke to Belarusian authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko about the release of more prisoners.
Trump’s Deputy Ukrainian Envoy John Kohl met with Lukashenko in the Belarus capital on Thursday and announced the lifting of sanctions.
Lukashenko has ruled a country of 9.5 million with iron fists for over 30 years, mercilessly cracking down on the opposition parties. Independent media.
However, his control was challenged in the aftermath of the Belarusian presidential election in August 2020. Tens of thousands of people It was poured into the street The vote, widely seen as equipped to protest Lukashenko’s reelection, sparks the biggest protest in the country’s history. Subsequent crackdowns saw tens of thousands of people detain and many were beaten by police. Prominent opposition figures either fled the country or were imprisoned.
Almost 1,200 political prisoners remain behind a bar in Belarus, according to human rights group Viasna.
Lukashenko has since extended his rules for the 7th term After the January 2025 election, when the opposition parties were farce. Since July 2024, he has been trying to forgive nearly 300 people, including imprisoned US citizens, and repair ties with the West.
