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TOR BAND musicians, former political prisoners, embrace their loved ones after arriving in Vilnius on September 16, 2026.
© 2026 Human Rights Watch
This week 25 former political prisoners arrived in Vilnius, Lithuania having been released from detention in Belarus.
Their release was negotiated by the United States special envoy to Belarus John Coale with president Aliaksander Lukashenka. In exchange, the US lifted sanctions on two Belarusian companies.
Among those released are journalist Andrei Aleksandrau and activist Iryna Zlobina, who married while in detention; lawyer Anastasiya Lazarenka, prosecuted for organizing legal consultations, among other charges; activist Alena Lazarchyk, a single parent whose communication with her child was limited by the prison management; and Sviatlana Yakubovich, a volunteer at Viasna, one of the leading human rights groups in Belarus. Most of them had been sentenced to harsh sentences of up to 14 years.
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Former political prisoner Alena Lazarchyk after being brought to Vilnius from Belarus, September 16, 2026.
© 2026 Human Rights Watch
After her arrival in Vilnius, Lazarchyk told those gathered that she had not believed she would be freed until the very last moment. “One day, they say, ‘get your things.’ I was sure they were just transferring me somewhere, but they said I was being deported.”
Belarusian authorities regularly impose forced expulsion as a mandatory condition for some political prisoners’ release, a practice which violates international human rights law, as United Nations experts have underscored. Since summer 2025, hundreds of political prisoners have been taken outside Belarus following their release from detention. Some have been deported without passports while others have reported that their passports were canceled following their expulsion from Belarus.
While the release of these 25 prisoners is something to celebrate, at least 886 prisoners remain in jail in Belarus on politically motivated grounds. Every month, dozens more are detained and handed heavy prison sentences.
According to Coale, the negotiations will continue and more political prisoners will be released soon. However Belarus’ president persists with the false narrative that there are no political prisoners in Belarus.
These prisoners aren’t gaming pieces to be exchanged for political favors. Governments need to increase the pressure on Belarusian authorities to end its ruthless, politically motivated crackdowns and to secure the freedom of the hundreds of political prisoners who continue to languish in jail, without exile from their home being the price they must pay.