{"id":21363,"date":"2025-12-14T11:43:23","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T11:43:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/?p=21363"},"modified":"2026-01-20T14:08:43","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T14:08:43","slug":"zayava-belaruskaga-pena-z-nagody-vyzvalennya-palitvyaznyau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/2025\/12\/14\/zayava-belaruskaga-pena-z-nagody-vyzvalennya-palitvyaznyau.html","title":{"rendered":"Statement by PEN Belarus on the Release of Political Prisoners"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>14 December 2025:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 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.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We urgently call on the Belarusian authorities to:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, including writers, cultural figures, human rights defenders, and journalists;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>put an end to the practice of forced exile<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as a form of pressure and punishment;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>ensure the protection of human rights <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">for all those who have been and remain deprived of liberty for political reasons.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On 13 December, 123 political prisoners, including 13 foreign nationals, were released from places of incarceration in Belarus. This step followed negotiations between Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161enka and a United States delegation in Minsk and is clearly part of the regime\u2019s strategy to seek the easing of international sanctions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, the freedom granted to these individuals proved to be conditional: <\/span><b>they were forcibly transferred to Ukraine and Lithuania<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, 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.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this context, PEN Belarus appeals to the governments of European countries <\/span><b>to provide legal protection, security, and comprehensive support<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to all those released, including access to documentation, medical and psychological assistance, and mechanisms to protect them from further persecution.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Among those released are writer and human rights defender, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and PEN Belarus member <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/2025\/12\/13\/ales-byalyaczki.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener \"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ale\u015b Bialacki<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">; lawyer, writer, and PEN Belarus member <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/2025\/12\/13\/maksim-znak.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener \"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maksim Znak<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">; translator <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/2025\/12\/14\/syargej-paulaviczki.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener \"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Siarhiej Pa\u016d\u0142avicki<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">; writer, publicist, and civic activist <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/2025\/12\/13\/pavel-sevyarynecz.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener \"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pavie\u0142 Sieviaryniec<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">; and writer, publicist, translator, literary scholar (habilitated Doctor in Literary Studies), publisher, political analyst, and PEN Belarus member <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/2025\/12\/13\/alyaksandr-fyaduta.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener \"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Alaksandr Fiaduta<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We remind the international community that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/tag\/people-of-word\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener \"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">other writers and cultural figures<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> continue to be held in Belarusian prisons on fabricated charges. Among them are journalist and writer, honorary member of Catalan PEN <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/2025\/07\/16\/kaczyaryna-andreeva.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener \"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kaciaryna Andrejeva<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">; essayist, journalist, and publicist <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/2024\/06\/20\/andrej-pachobut-andrzej-poczobut.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener \"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Andrzej Poczobut<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">; musician <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/2023\/08\/17\/dzmitryj-galavach.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener \"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dzmitryj Ha\u0142ava\u010d<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">; cultural scholar and editor <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/2023\/01\/25\/vaczlau-areshka.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener \"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vac\u0142a\u016d Are\u0161ka<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">; and journalist, blogger, and poet <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/2024\/11\/20\/dzyanis-ivashyn.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener \"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dzianis Iva\u0161yn<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Their lives and health are at risk due to incarceration conditions that human rights defenders equate with torture.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prison conditions in Belarus constitute a systemic problem. Recently, the Group of Independent Experts on the situation of human rights in Belarus <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/sites\/default\/files\/documents\/hrbodies\/hrcouncil\/ohchrbelarus\/a-hrc-60-crp-1-english-version.pdf\" class=\"count\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">accused<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the Belarusian authorities of committing \u201ccrimes against humanity \u2014 persecution on political grounds and unlawful deprivation of liberty.\u201d This requires a principled and consistent international response.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Additional information<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For more detailed information on the state of freedom of expression in Belarus, see the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/2025\/08\/06\/upr-2025-joint-pen.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener \"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">joint submission<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by PEN Belarus, PEN International, and PEN America prepared for the UN Human Rights Council, documenting the Belarusian authorities\u2019 comprehensive assault on freedom of expression and cultural and linguistic rights.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To learn more about PEN Belarus\u2019s work, including its monitoring of violations of cultural rights and the human rights of cultural figures, please <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/news\/cultural-right\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener \"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">click here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":21371,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4255],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-statement","category-cultural-right"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/117"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21363"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21372,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21363\/revisions\/21372"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}