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Belarusian opposition politician Mikola Statkevich refused to cross into Lithuania with other freed prisoners after they were pardoned and released at the request of U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday, a senior official in the exiled opposition party told Reuters.
“This is a real drama because Mikola Statkevich completely refused to leave Belarus, and they are trying to force him out,” the official, Franak Viacorka, said.
Webcam footage earlier showed Statkevich sitting in the no-man’s zone at the border.
“He tried to go back to Belarus and he was stopped at the border,” Viacorka said in a voice message. “This shows how cruel the regime is, because they didn’t leave any choice to people to stay or to go.”
Belarus freed 52 political prisoners on Thursday, as the United States announced it was lifting some sanctions on the isolated country’s national airline.
Belarus, a close ally of Russia, has been repeatedly slapped with Western sanctions both for its crackdown on human rights and allowing Moscow to use its territory in the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Its president, Alexander Lukashenko, has ruled the nation of 9.5 million with an iron fist for more than three decades, and hundreds of people, including dissidents, opposition figures and journalists, are behind bars.
But for more than a year, Lukashenko has sought to mend ties with the West in the hopes of easing the sanctions and the country’s international isolation. He has regularly released prisoners as a way to win favour.
In June, Belarus freed Siarhei Tsikhanouski, a key dissident figure and the husband of exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, and 13 others following a visit by a senior envoy of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Shortly before Thursday’s release became public, Belarusian state media posted a video of U.S. envoy John Coale announcing that Washington had lifted sanctions on Belarus national air carrier, Belavia.
The airline was sanctioned by the European Union, the U.S., and others after Belarusian flight controllers ordered a commercial jet traveling from Greece to Lithuania to land in Minsk. Once the plane landed, authorities arrested Raman Pratasevich, a dissident journalist who was on board.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Images provided by Getty Images, The Canadian Press and Reuters.