14 December 2025: PEN Belarus welcomes the news of the release of 123 political prisoners from Belarusian prisons, while expressing deep concern over their forced expulsion from the country and the fate of those who remain behind bars.
We urgently call on the Belarusian authorities to:
- immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners, including writers, cultural figures, human rights defenders, and journalists;
- put an end to the practice of forced exile as a form of pressure and punishment;
- ensure the protection of human rights for all those who have been and remain deprived of liberty for political reasons.
On 13 December, 123 political prisoners, including 13 foreign nationals, were released from places of incarceration in Belarus. This step followed negotiations between Alaksandr Łukašenka and a United States delegation in Minsk and is clearly part of the regime’s strategy to seek the easing of international sanctions.
However, the freedom granted to these individuals proved to be conditional: they were forcibly transferred to Ukraine and Lithuania, effectively pushed into exile, despite many of them wishing to remain in their homeland. Forced displacement cannot be regarded as a genuine restoration of justice; it represents a continuation of human rights violations by other means.
In this context, PEN Belarus appeals to the governments of European countries to provide legal protection, security, and comprehensive support to all those released, including access to documentation, medical and psychological assistance, and mechanisms to protect them from further persecution.
Among those released are writer and human rights defender, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and PEN Belarus member Aleś Bialacki; lawyer, writer, and PEN Belarus member Maksim Znak; translator Siarhiej Paŭłavicki; writer, publicist, and civic activist Pavieł Sieviaryniec; and writer, publicist, translator, literary scholar (habilitated Doctor in Literary Studies), publisher, political analyst, and PEN Belarus member Alaksandr Fiaduta.
We remind the international community that other writers and cultural figures continue to be held in Belarusian prisons on fabricated charges. Among them are journalist and writer, honorary member of Catalan PEN Kaciaryna Andrejeva; essayist, journalist, and publicist Andrzej Poczobut; musician Dzmitryj Hałavač; cultural scholar and editor Vacłaŭ Areška; and journalist, blogger, and poet Dzianis Ivašyn. Their lives and health are at risk due to incarceration conditions that human rights defenders equate with torture.
Prison conditions in Belarus constitute a systemic problem. Recently, the Group of Independent Experts on the situation of human rights in Belarus accused the Belarusian authorities of committing “crimes against humanity — persecution on political grounds and unlawful deprivation of liberty.” This requires a principled and consistent international response.
Additional information
For more detailed information on the state of freedom of expression in Belarus, see the joint submission by PEN Belarus, PEN International, and PEN America prepared for the UN Human Rights Council, documenting the Belarusian authorities’ comprehensive assault on freedom of expression and cultural and linguistic rights.
To learn more about PEN Belarus’s work, including its monitoring of violations of cultural rights and the human rights of cultural figures, please click here.