Tsikhanouskaya: release of prisoners is not real freedom, it is also forced deportation

VILNIUS – The release of more than 50 citizens of Belarus and Western countries, including Lithuania, from Belarusian prisons is not a real freedom as it is also forced deportation, Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya has said.

“Let's be honest, what happened yesterday wasn't a real freedom. It was forced deportation,” Tsikhanouskaya, who has been living in Lithuania for several years, told reporters in Vilnius. 

In her speech, she thanked US President Donald Trump, White House envoy John Coale, the European Union, human rights organizations, and Lithuania.

“I especially thank Lithuania, which acted quickly to take in the released prisoners, issued documents and helped them at the border,” Tsikhanouskaya said.

Belarus on Thursday freed 52 political prisoners from Belarus and Western countries, including six Lithuanian citizens.

However, not all of those released left Belarus: Mikalai Statkevich, one of the leaders of the Belarusian opposition, refused to leave at the border.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said on Thursday that the group of the released citizens of Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Belarus included “opposition figures, journalists, and protest participants”.

According to him, US President Donald Trump was directly involved in the negotiations for their release.

The Lithuanian leader then emphasized that those people had not been released in exchange for the lifting of Western sanctions against Belarus.

However, White House envoy John Coale announced the lifting of US sanctions on Belarusian state airline, Belavia, at a meeting with Belarusian authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk on Thursday. According to him, the decision was made by President Trump himself.