Belarus opposition leader freed from jail in US-brokered deal
By Andrius Sytas
VILNIUS (Reuters) -Belarus opposition leader Siarhei Tsikhanouski and 13 other prisoners have been released from jail and are now free in Lithuania, the neighbouring country's government said on Saturday.
The release was brokered by U.S. special envoy Keith Kellogg, a spokesperson for Lithuania's prime minister said.
Kellogg earlier met with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, the country's state news agency Belta said.
Tsikhanouski's wife Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya in a post on social media platform X thanked U.S. President Donald Trump, as well as Kellogg and others for their efforts to secure her husband's release.
"We're not done," Tsikhanouskaya wrote on her X account, calling for the release of a further 1,150 prisoners.
Lukashenko issued pardons for all those released in response to a U.S. request, the president's spokeswoman, Natalya Eismont, said in a statement.
Eismont's statement on the Pul Pervogo Telegram channel close to the president, said the Belarusian nationals among the 14 released detainees had been "convicted of extremist and terrorist activity".
She said the decision to release Tsikhanouski was "taken by the president strictly on humanitarian considerations with the aim of family reunification".
Tsikhanouski was seen emerging from a van with a shaven head, smiling and immediately stepping up to hug his wife in a long embrace, a video released by her office showed.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that Kellogg, the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Belarus in years, saw his mission as one that could help jump-start peace talks aimed at ending Russia's war against Ukraine.
"President Trump encouraged this trip," Kellogg's deputy John Coale said in a video posted on his account on X.
Five Belarus nationals were released along with three Poles, two Latvians, two Japanese citizens, one Estonian and one Swede, Lithuania said.
Among those released by Belarus was Ihar Karnei, a former journalist at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus said in a statement thanking Trump, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others.
"We thank Secretary Rubio and his team, the Lithuanian government, and the international community for their support of our imprisoned journalists," he added.
VON DER LEYEN, POLAND WELCOME THE RELEASE
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a post on X that the release was "fantastic news and a powerful symbol of hope for all the political prisoners suffering under the brutal Lukashenka (sic) regime".
"The free world needs you, Siarhei!", Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on X.
A Belarus court in 2021 found Tsikhanouski, a 43-year-old video blogger, guilty of organising mass unrest and of inciting social hatred, and handed him one of the longest jail terms in modern Belarusian history.
His supporters said the charges were fabricated and politically motivated, and his wife has called the verdict political revenge.
His wife ran in the elections in his place, and mass protests broke out after Lukashenko said he'd won the elections. Tsikhanouskaya has since left the country for exile in Lithuania.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why Kellogg travelled to Minsk and met Lukashenko.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Sen. Padilla claps back after JD Vance calls him 'Jose': 'He knows my name'
Sen. Alex Padilla blasted the Trump administration Saturday, calling it "petty and unserious" after Vice President JD Vance referred to him as "Jose" during a news conference in Los Angeles the previous day. "He knows my name," Padilla said in an appearance on MSNBC on Saturday morning. Vance visited Los Angeles on Friday for less than five hours after several weeks of federal immigration raids in the city and surrounding areas, sparking protests and backlash from state and local officials. Padilla was thrown into the heated nationwide immigration debate when he was dragged to the ground by federal law enforcement officers and briefly detained when he attempted to ask U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem a question during a news conference earlier this month. Vance characterized the move by California's first Latino senator as "political theater" in his remarks. Read more: Arellano: Sen. Alex Padilla's crime? Being Mexican in MAGA America 'I was hoping Jose Padilla would be here to ask a question, but unfortunately I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn't a theater, and that's all it is,' Vance said. Vance served alongside Padilla in the Senate and is now the president of the upper chamber of Congress. Vance's press secretary, Taylor Van Kirk, told Politico that the vice president misspoke and "must have mixed up two people who have broken the law." Padilla, in his TV interview, said he broke no laws. He suggested the misnaming was intentional — and a reflection of the administration's skewed priorities. "He's the vice president of the United States." Padilla said. "You think he'd take the the situation in Los Angeles more seriously." Padilla said Vance might instead have taken the opportunity to talk to families or employers affected by raids carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Other California Democrats rallied behind Padilla after the misnaming incident. "Calling him 'Jose Padilla' is not an accident," California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a Friday post on the social media platform X. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass highlighted racial undertones in Vance's comments. 'I guess he just looked like anybody to you, but he's not just anybody to us," she said during a press conference on Friday. "He is our senator." Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter. Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond, in your inbox twice per week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Belarus frees jailed opposition leader, 13 others after visit from U.S. envoy
Belarus freed top opposition figure Sergei Tikhanovsky and more than a dozen other political prisoners Saturday following an appeal from the White House, Tsikhanouskaya's team announced on Saturday, a sign of warming ties between Washington and Belarus-ally Moscow. The release came just hours after retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, President Trump's special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, met Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk, the highest-profile visit of a U.S. official to the authoritarian state in years. Tikhanovsky's wife Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who took the mantle of the opposition movement after her husband's jailing, thanked President Trump directly for brokering the deal. Lukashenko's spokeswoman said the Belarusian leader had ordered the release of the prisoners on Mr. Trump's "request," Russian state media reported. Mr. Trump appeared to take credit, writing "Thank you President Trump!" on his Truth Social platform, alongside a link to a news story about the prisoner release. European politicians and members of Belarus's exiled opposition also welcomed the news. "This is fantastic news and a powerful symbol of hope for all the political prisoners suffering under the brutal Lukashenka regime," European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said on X. "Europe continues to call for their immediate release," she added. Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski expressed his "sincerest joy," while Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics called Tikhanovsky's freedom a "much awaited and long overdue moment." German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul welcomed Tikhanovsky's release as "fantastically good news," in a post to X. "At the same time, we must not forget the many other prisoners in Belarus. Lukashenko must finally release them," he added. Pavel Latushko, a former culture minister in Belarus who supported the 2020 protests against Lukashenko, also hailed Tikhanovsky's release as an "important moment". Tikhanovsky, 46, had been imprisoned for more than five years. The popular Youtuber had planned to run against Lukashenko in the August 2020 presidential election, but was arrested and detained weeks before the vote. He was sentenced in 2021 to 18 years in prison for "organizing riots" and "inciting hatred," then to another 18 months for "insubordination." Svetlana — a political novice at the time of her husband's arrest — ran against Lukashenko in his place but lost after what the opposition described as widespread falsification. She later fled Belarus. "It's hard to describe the joy in my heart," she said in a post on X following her husband's release. Among the 13 others freed were Radio Liberty journalist Ihar Karnei, arrested in 2023 and jailed for participating in an "extremist" organization. They have now been transferred from Belarus to Lithuania, where they were receiving "proper care," Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said. Though none of the released prisoners needed emergency medical assistance, "one of them needed emergency medical attention" as "they were imprisoned in difficult conditions," Budrys told the LRT public broadcaster, without elaborating. Swedish-Belarusian citizen Galina Krasnyanskaya, arrested in 2023 for allegedly supporting Ukraine, was also freed, said Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. Belarus, ruled by Lukashenko since 1994, has outlawed all genuine opposition parties. It is the only European country to retain the death penalty as a punishment. The eastern European country still holds more than 1,000 political prisoners in its jails, according to Belarusian human rights group Viasna. Since taking office, Mr. Trump has engaged in direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, ending his predecessor's policy of isolating the Russian president. The two nuclear powers have since worked to normalize diplomatic ties, which have for years lingered at their lowest point since the Cold War. In February, a U.S. citizen who had been detained in Belarus was one of three prisoners freed into U.S. custody. Chris Smith, deputy assistant secretary for Eastern Europe, said at the time that the deal was negotiated by Belarusian authorities and signaled a desire by Lukashenko to have a stronger relationship with the U.S. And in January, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that Belarus had "unilaterally" freed an American woman from detention. Tikhanovsky was for years held incommunicado, and in 2023 his wife was told that he had "died." In a video published by Viasna on Saturday, he appeared almost unrecognizable, his head shaven and face emaciated. A charismatic activist, Tikhanovsky drew the ire of authorities for describing Lukashenko as a "cockroach" and his campaign slogan was "Stop the cockroach." Lukashenko claimed a landslide victory in the 2020 election, a result that sparked massive opposition protests which authorities violently suppressed. The Belarusian autocrat claimed a record seventh term in elections earlier this year that observers dismissed as a farce. Some Spanish residents, armed with water guns, want tourists to go home Dodgers respond to ICE raids in Los Angeles Israeli military planning for possibility of a lengthy war with Iran
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Pro-Palestinian protest leader defiant despite US deportation threat
Mahmoud Khalil, one of the most prominent leaders of US pro-Palestinian campus protests, pledged Saturday to keep campaigning after he was released from a federal detention center. "Even if they would kill me, I would still speak for Palestine," Khalil said as he was greeted by cheering supporters at Newark airport, just outside New York City. Khalil, a legal permanent resident in the United States who is married to a US citizen and has a US-born son, had been in custody since March facing potential deportation. He was freed from a federal immigration detention center in Louisiana on Friday, hours after a judge ordered his release on bail. The Columbia University graduate was a figurehead of student protests against US ally Israel's war in Gaza, and the Trump administration labeled him a national security threat. "Just the fact I am here sends a message -- the fact that all these attempts to suppress pro-Palestine voices have failed now," said Khalil, who is still fighting his potential expulsion from the United States. He spoke alongside his wife Noor Abdalla, who gave birth to the couple's first child while Khalil was in detention, as well as Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. "Mahmoud Khalil was imprisoned for 104 days by this administration, by the Trump administration, with no grounds and for political reasons, because Mahmoud Khalil is an advocate for Palestinian human rights," Ocasio-Cortez said. "This is not over, and we will have to continue to support this case," she added. Khalil, who was born in Syria to Palestinian parents, is not allowed to leave the United States except for "self-deportation" under the terms of his release. He also faces restrictions on where he can travel within the country. President Donald Trump's government has justified pushing for Khalil's deportation by saying his continued presence in the United States could carry "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences." Beyond his legal case, Khalil's team fears he could face threats out of detention. "We are very mindful about his security, and the irony is that he is the one being persecuted," Baher Azmy, one of his lawyers, told AFP. "But he is committed to peace and because he is rejecting US government policy he is under threat," Azmy added, without elaborating on any security measures in place for Khalil and his family. gl/bjt/acb
