VILNIUS, Lithuania — Belarus forcibly deported political prisoners released in a U.S.-led deal, opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said Friday.
Belarus freed 52 political prisoners Thursday as part of a deal brokered by the United States, which lifted some sanctions on the country’s national airline. The deal is the latest step toward a possible rapprochement between Washington and Minsk, a close ally of Russia that has faced Western isolation for years.
“Of course, we are so happy to see people free, but let’s be honest, what happened yesterday wasn’t real freedom. It was forced deportation,” Tsikhanouskaya said at a news conference Friday.
Fifty-one of the freed prisoners crossed into Lithuania, Anatol Lyabedzka, of Tsikhanouskaya’s team, told the Associated Press.
One of the prisoners, veteran opposition politician Mikalai Statkevich, refused to cross into Lithuania and tried to return to Belarus, but was blocked by the border guards, Lyabedzka said.
Statkevich remained in no-man’s land for a while before Belarusian security operatives took him in the direction of the Belarusian border crossing, Lyabedzka said. His whereabouts are currently unknown, Tsikhanouskaya said.
The politician’s refusal to leave Belarus echoes a similar choice by Maria Kolesnikova, a key leader in the mass protests that rocked Belarus in 2020. She became a symbol of Belarusian resistance after the authorities tried to deport her in September 2020. Driven to the Ukrainian border, she briefly broke away from security forces, tore up her passport, and walked back into Belarus. She was convicted a year later on charges including conspiracy to seize power and sentenced to 11 years in prison.
“Everyone who is released has the right to choose either to stay or to leave,” Tsikhanouskaya said Friday, in reference to Statkevich’s case.
Among those released Thursday were Ihar Losik, a journalist for the U.S. government-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, as well as other journalists and bloggers, party and union leaders, and 14 foreigners.
The freed prisoners had their passports confiscated and were given temporary A4-size papers by Belarus’ security services rather than full-fledged identity documents, Tsikhanouskaya said.
Franak Viachorka, Tsikhanouskaya’s senior advisor, told AP that while most of the released Belarusians are in “normal physical and psychological condition,” some need urgent medical care.
Almost 1,200 political prisoners remain behind bars in Belarus, according to the country’s Viasna Human Rights Center.