Belarus releases prisoners. There is a recording of Byalyatsky in Vilnius. Tsikhanouskaya welcomed him
Byalyatsky was forcibly deported to Lithuania on Saturday. According to the US Embassy in Vilnius, he was among a group of nine people who came to Lithuania. On the Telegram channel, the Viasna center reported that 114 freed people were deported to Ukraine, including 104 Belarusians.
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Who is Ales Bialiacki?
How many people were deported to Lithuania?
What did Ales Byalatsky tell Belarusians after his release?
What video appeared on the Internet regarding Byalyatsky?
In total, on Saturday, the authorities in Minsk released 123 people under an agreement with the US, including citizens of Great Britain, the United States, Lithuania, Latvia, Australia, Japan, five citizens of Ukraine, and a Polish citizen, Roman Galuza. Andrzej Poczobut is not among those dismissed, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Recordings of Bialyatsky's welcome in Vilnius have appeared on the Internet.
In a conversation with Belarusian journalists, the oppositionist said that people detained in the early 2000s were with him. When asked what he would wish for Belarusians, he said: – Perseverance, optimism and activity. Don't throw up your hands. Don't give up.
The Belarusian regime releases political prisoners. Who is Ales Bialiacki?
Ales Bialiacki (born 1952) is the founder of the Human Rights Defense Center “Vyasna”, a leading organization dealing with the defense of human rights in Belarus. He was active in the opposition back in the times of the USSR, and founded “Viasna” in 1996.
Although the leader of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, banned the organization in 2003, it never stopped its activities. Even after in July 2021 – on a wave of unprecedented repression after the rigged presidential elections and purges among NGOs and social organizations – Byalyatsky and other “Viasna” employees were arrested.
In 2021, Byalyatsky was imprisoned for the second time; he was first behind bars in 2011-2014. Following his arrest in 2021, he was sentenced in March 2023 to 10 years in a penal colony for allegedly financing the 2020 post-election protests.
In 2022, Byalyatsky was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize together with the Ukrainian organization Center for Civil Liberties and the Russian Memorial. However, this did not in any way improve his situation in prison.
Bialiatsky has chronic health problems. In July, his wife Natalia Pinczuk reported that her husband did not receive the medicines given to him. Like many political prisoners, the oppositionist was kept in isolation, without the possibility of contact with his family or even a lawyer. Repeated appeals for his release were ignored by the authorities in Minsk.
