Maria Kalesnikava, a coordinator of Viktar Babaryka's campaign headquarters, outside the headquarters of Belarus' Central Electoral Commission in Minsk on July 14, 2020. Belarus freed 123 prisoners, including protest leader Kalesnikava, announced on December 13, 2025, human rights groups and state media. SERGEI GAPON / AFP
Belarus has freed protest leader Maria Kolesnikova and Nobel Prize Winner Ales Bialiatski in a major US-brokered deal to release more than 100 of the country's political prisoners.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has locked up thousands of his opponents, critics and protestors since an election in 2020 that rights groups widely said was rigged and triggered weeks of mass protests across the country.
Rights groups, relatives and state media reported 123 people were freed, including foreign citizens, after a US envoy said that Washington was lifting some sanctions on Minsk, a close ally of Moscow.
"The head of state has decided to pardon 123 citizens of various countries," the Belarusian state news agency Belta said.
