Belarus Frees 123 Political Prisoners in US-Brokered Deal

Belarus has freed 123 political prisoners in an unprecedented deal brokered by the United States. The releases were carried out under “agreements reached with U.S. President Donald Trump and at his request,” Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s office said in a statement posted on its official Telegram channel on Dec. 13. It is also tied to the lifting of U.S. sanctions on Belarus’s potash industry, as well as Washington’s commitment to remove other sanctions, the statement said. Lukashenko, who has been in power in Belarus since 1994, was re-elected to a sixth term in 2020 in an election widely condemned by the opposition and Western governments as rigged. The reelection sparked mass nationwide protests that were met with a sweeping security crackdown, during which thousands of Lukashenko’s opponents, critics, and protesters were jailed....