Belarus¶
The Belarusian cases show repression and diplomacy working as one system. Prosecutions remove those who document abuses, and releases are exchanged for relief from sanctions, so pressure from outside is converted into a transaction rather than a change of conduct. Because the state controls both the arrests and the releases, it can sell freedom without giving up the capacity to take it away again.
The clerk’s briefs¶
From the clerks, for the Patrician’s eyes
Read these. Those released gain their freedom and lose their country, and those still inside learn that their way out runs through another government’s sanctions list rather than a Belarusian court. Human rights defenders who stay become potential bargaining chips. Governments that negotiate gain releases and lose leverage, since each deal shows what their sanctions can be bought for. The trade would change only if relief were tied to ending the arrests rather than to the number released.
March 2026: Another 250¶
On 19 March 2026 Belarus released 250 political prisoners in a deal to lift some US sanctions; the envoy called it “a significant humanitarian milestone”. Viasna counts more than 1,100 political prisoners still held. The clerks note that the trade has become regular.
December 2025: Released into exile¶
On 13 December 2025 Belarus released 123 political prisoners, Ales Bialiatski among them, in exchange for the lifting of sanctions on its potash. Bialiatski was freed from his ten-year sentence and forced into exile in Norway, via Lithuania. The clerks note that the release was a sale, and that the price was set in fertiliser.
March 2023: Viasna sentenced¶
On 3 March 2023 Ales Bialiatski, Valiantsin Stefanovic and Uladzimir Labkovich of Viasna were sentenced to 10, 9 and 7 years for smuggling and financing actions violating public order. FIDH, of which Stefanovic was vice-president, said these “pretexts were used to sanction their legitimate human rights work as leaders of Viasna”. The clerks note that the people who kept the register of political prisoners were added to it.