William Horsley, AEJ UK chairman
The Association of European Journalists is thrilled and delighted that our longtime friend and colleague Andrei Aliaksandrau and his partner Iryna Zlobina were finally freed on Wednesday after spending five and a half years in a Belarus prison. Andrei had originally been sentenced to 14 years in prison for supporting mass protests against the dictatorial regime of Aleksandr Lukashenko. The pair were among 25 political prisoners freed and deported to Lithuania in a deal with the USA in exchange for an easing of sanctions against selected Belarus commercial interests. Since March of this year more Belarus has released more than 200 political prisoners but monitoring organisations say that over 300 more have been jailed on politically motivated charges in that time.
Andrei risked his own freedom and safety, together with many others, by standing up courageously against brutal repression and the crude manipulation of elections. While living in London for several years more than a decade ago, Andrei made many friends, taking an active part in AEJ activities and working for a time at the magazine Index on Censorship. After returning to Belarus, he threw his energies into working for the Belarus Journalists Association and became deputy director of BelaPAN, the country’s leading independent news agency. Andreu emerged from his long ordeal enduring harsh jail condition looking gaunt and a lot much thinner than in the past, but still smiling.
After landing as an exile in Lithuania, his first reported words were: “I left 30 kilos of my weight to my homeland. My mood is good. I am very glad that these almost six years are over. I really hope that these [release] processes will continue.”
Welcome to freedom, Andrei!
