Belarus has launched 14 prisoners together with Siarhei Tsikhanouski, the chief of the opposition to President Aleksandr Lukashenko.
Tsikanouski, arrested in 2020, was launched to Lithuania and reunited along with his spouse, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who has change into the face of opposition to Lukashenko’s regime in his absence.
Tsikhanouskaya thanked Donald Trump and European allies for his or her efforts.
The information got here after Keith Kellogg, Donald Trump’s particular envoy for Russia and Ukraine met Lukashenko in Minsk on Saturday.
“We’re not achieved. 1150 political prisoners stay behind bars. All should be launched,” wrote Tsikhanouskaya, who has spent years campaigning around the globe for his freedom.
European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed Tsikhanouski’s liberation as “improbable information and a strong image of hope for all of the political prisoners struggling beneath the brutal Lukashenka regime.”
She stated that Europe calls for his or her “quick launch” in her put up on X.
EU diplomatic chief Kaja Kallas wrote: “I welcome the US engagement that made this attainable and share the enjoyment of households reunited. However all political prisoners in Belarus should be freed.”
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola wrote that the battle to free Belarus’ political prisoners “is not going to cease right here.”
Siarhei Tsikhanouski was arrested earlier than the Belarusian 2020 presidential vote. He was a challenger to the nation’s long-standing dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko, who can also be a key ally of Russan President Vladimir Putin.
Tsikhanouski was discovered responsible of organising riots and inciting social hatred in December 2021, when he was sentenced to 18 years of jail.
This text was up to date to say that Tsikhanouski was launched to Lithuania.
(ew)
