Dec 14 (Reuters) – Two prominent Belarusian opposition leaders released by Belarusian authorities in a deal brokered by the U.S. said on Sunday they had no regrets over the actions that led to their incarceration.
Maria Kalesnikava, 43, was one of the leaders of mass protests in 2020 accusing President Alexander Lukashenko of rigging his re-election for a sixth term. Lukashenko crushed the protests through mass police action.
Kalesnikava, quoted by Belarusian opposition news outlet Nasha Niva, was one of a group of released prisoners to address journalists at an undisclosed location in Ukraine a day after their release. A total of 123 prisoners were freed, with 114 taken to Ukraine and nine to Lithuania.
“No, I regret nothing. I believe that there are times during which certain questions are raised, difficult questions and you have to make difficult choices,” Nasha Niva quoted her as saying in the news conference.
“It was easy to make that difficult choice because I was and remain certain that I supported the right idea … I am not alone. There are many of us.”
Kalesnikava, a musician, said she would now devote time to music, art, theatre, travel and “communication with people I love and care deeply about”.
Seized in 2020 and driven to the Ukrainian border, she tore up her passport to prevent being deported – and was later jailed for 11 years on charges including conspiracy to seize power.
Viktar Babaryka, 62, a former banker who was jailed after trying to run against Lukashenko, also reaffirmed his principles.
“All my life, I have done what I believed to be right and necessary. In 2020, I did, we did, what we could. You can blame yourself only if you failed to complete something,” Nasha Niva quoted him as saying.
“So no regrets over what I did … We did not lose. We won. We won no prizes but we turned out to be stronger.”
Babaryka would not rule out a return to public life.
“If Belarus needs me, I will try to do something for Belarus,” he told reporters. If it is my family that needs me, next year is my pension year.”
Babaryka said his son Eduard was among those who remain political prisoners in Belarus. The Viasna rights group estimates that group numbered 1,227 before Saturday’s prisoner release.
The release was negotiated by John Coale, an envoy for U.S. President Donald Trump, with Minsk receiving an offer of relief from sanctions.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski; Editing by Paul Simao)
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