The government of Belarus' authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko released 123 political prisoners on Saturday after meetings with a US envoy.

The most prominent of those prisoners released was Ales Bialiatski, a Nobel Peace laureate who spent decades campaigning on behalf of those imprisoned for their political beliefs.

Belarusian street protest leader Maria Kolesnikova was also among the prisoners who were freed on Saturday.

The move comes as Minsk, a close Russian ally, seeks to repair ties with the US.

After the prisoner release was announced, the US said some economic sanctions against Belarus would be lifted.

Who are some of the more prominent prisoners Belarus released?

Bialiatski was arrested in 2021, during a crackdown on mass protests against Lukashenko, who was declared the winner of a presidential election that the opposition accused him of stealing the previous year.

Though other dissidents fled, Bialiatski decided to stay. "He knew all the risks, he was very well aware," his wife Natallia Pinchuk told Reuters on the day he received the Nobel prize in October 2022 alongside the Russian rights group Memorial and Ukraine's Center for Civil Liberties.

"There were suggestions he should leave," she said. "His colleagues were arrested. And he said on principle he was responsible for them and he couldn’t leave in view of this grave situation. How could he leave when they were locked up?"

In April 2023, Bialiatski was found guilty of committing financial crimes and smuggling and sentenced to 10 years in a penal colony. He denied the accusations.

"Our fight continues," Bialiatski told opposition media outlet Belsat in a televised interview from Lithuania after his release. "And the Nobel Prize was, I think, a certain acknowledgement of our activity, our aspirations that have not yet come to fruition, therefore the fight continues."

Kolesnikova — an orchestra musician by profession — was also among those released Saturday. Kolesnikova was a key figure in 2020 protests that nearly toppled Lukashenko, famously ripping up her passport as the KGB tried to deport her. 

Kolesnikova was sentenced to 11 years in a penal colony after being found guilty of extremist activity and conspiracy to seize power.

"She thanked the United States for President [Donald] Trump's efforts and the Belarusian side for holding these negotiations," said Kolesnikova's sister Tatiana Khomich after the siblings had spoken by phone.

Speaking via video after arriving in Ukraine on Saturday, Kolesnikova said, "I'm thinking of those who are not yet free, and I'm very much looking forward to the moment when we can all embrace, when we can all see one another, and when we will all be free."

US lifts some sanctions on Russia ally Belarus

News of Lukashenko's decision to free the prisoners came on the second day of talks between he and US Special Envoy for Belarus John Cole.  

Cole announced that the US would lift sanctions of Belarus' potash industry, adding that more sanctions would be lifted as relations between Minsk and Washington normalize.

"As relations between the two countries normalize, more sanctions will be lifted," said Cole Saturday.

Edited by: Karl Sexton