The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Thursday celebrated the release of at least eight Belarusian journalists, part of a group of 52 political prisoners freed as the US eased sanctions on Belarus’ state airline Belavia.
Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, shared a statement on the release:
CPJ celebrates that at least eight Belarusian journalists can finally return to their families after being freed from prison. They were unjustly detained for years and shouldn’t have spent a day in jail… Many more journalists remain languishing in Belarusian jails in retaliation for their work and we call on authorities to release them all.
The broader prisoner release, which also included opposition leaders, trade union figures, and activists, follows negotiations between Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and U.S. special envoy John Coale. In exchange, the US agreed to ease sanctions on Belavia, allowing the state-owned airline to buy aircraft parts.
Many of those considered political prisoners in Belarus were jailed in the aftermath of the country’s disputed 2020 presidential election, when Lukashenko claimed victory in a vote widely denounced as fraudulent. The government suppressed mass protests, jailing opposition leaders, independent journalists, human rights defenders, and ordinary citizens who spoke out against the regime. Since then, authorities have expanded the use of anti-extremism laws, raided independent media outlets, and criminalized civil society groups.
The release comes amid ongoing international concern about Belarus’s crackdown on independent media. Last month, CPJ condemned the three-year prison sentence handed to freelance reporter Aleh Supruniuk, calling it another example of authorities’ covert attacks on the press. In July, a group of UN experts urged investigations into deaths in custody of political prisoners, warning of a pattern of abuse and neglect inside Belarusian detention facilities.
Reporters Without Borders has ranked Belarus as one of the world’s most restrictive environments for journalists due to the state’s control over courts, widespread censorship, and a pattern of disproportionately imprisoning female reporters.