Veteran dissident, journalist among 52 prisoners released by Belarus

Sergei Tikhanovsky and Mikola Statkevich inside a defendants' cage during the verdict hearing in the trial on charges of organising riots and inciting social hatred, at a detention centre in the southeastern city of Gomel on December 14, 2021. [AFP]

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's government has freed 52 political prisoners, including a veteran opposition figure, neighbouring Lithuania said on Thursday, crediting US efforts to secure their release.

Tens of thousands of Belarusians took to the streets in 2020 to protest against what they called a sham presidential election in which Lukashenko secured himself a sixth term.

Many were detained during a brutal crackdown and later prosecuted on what rights group slam as politically motivated charges.

Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda wrote on X that "52 prisoners safely crossed the Lithuanian border from Belarus today," saying he was "deeply grateful" for Washington and President Donald Trump's involvement.

According to the Belarusian state news agency Belta, 14 people with foreign citizenship were among those freed: six Lithuanians, two Latvians, two Poles, two Germans, one French national and a British citizen.

Trump has pushed Belarus to free political prisoners in contacts with Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Among those released was Mikola Statkevich, 69, a veteran dissident and the 2010 presidential candidate, who spent five years in jail, according to rights group Vyasna.

Publishing video from the border, state media and rights groups reported that a man they said resembled Statkevich was sitting at the border, refusing to cross the border into Lithuania.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Ihar Losik, 33, has also been freed after spending five years in jail, the US outlet said.

1,000 still in jail 

Nauseda urged further prisoner releases, saying: "More than 1,000 political prisoners still remain in Belarusian prisons and we cannot stop until they see freedom!"

The latest release came as a US official on a visit to Belarus on Thursday said Washington had lifted sanctions on the country's state airline, Belavia.

"As of right now, we're lifting sanctions on Belavia," said Trump's deputy special envoy John Coale in a meeting with Lukashenko, which was broadcast on state television.

"Right now, they're lifted... the president (Trump) three times said, 'do it', so we didn't have to go through all the bureaucratic stuff. So it's done by the State Department, Treasury and Commerce."

At a news conference, Nauseda said that among those released were "opposition figures, journalists and participants in protests".

He did not disclose the identity of those freed, with the exception of the Lithuanian national Elena Ramanauskiene, who was jailed last year on espionage charges.

In June, 14 political prisoners were released from prison in Belarus, including Sergei Tikhanovsky, the husband of the exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.