CPJ welcomes release of three journalists in Belarus 

Berlin, September 16, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of journalists Andrei Aliaksandrau, Dzmitry Navazhylau, and Kyril Pazniak, who were among 25 prisoners freed on Wednesday by Belarus following months of U.S. diplomatic efforts.

The releases followed a meeting between Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and John Coale, U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Belarus who has been charged with securing the release of hundreds of people including human rights campaigners, political activists, journalists ​and lawyers.

Former director of the BelaPAN independent news agency Navazhylau and former BelaPAN deputy director Aliaksandrau, who was also founder and chief editor of the news website Belaruski Zhurnal, had been jailed since 2021. Pazniak,who worked for the YouTube channel Platform 375, was arrested in September 2025. Aliaksandrau’s wife, Iryna Zlobina, who was also detained in 2021, was also freed on Wednesday as was Pazniak’s daughter Yanina, who was also detained in September 2025. 

“We are so happy and relieved to see Andrei Aliaksandrau, Dzmitry Navazhylau and Kyril Pazniak finally walk free. They should never have been jailed: while we celebrate their release today, we are painfully aware too of all the years they have lost, and the horrifying things they have been through, simply for doing their jobs,” said Fiona O’Brien, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia regional director. “Our thoughts are also with the other 18 journalists still in prison in Belarus. We call on the Belarusian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release them.”

Aliaksandrau had originally been sentenced to 14 years in jail, Navazhylau to six years and Pazniak to 3 years and six months. According to the Belarusian Association of Journalists, all the released journalists were deported to Lithuania.

The released prisoners, who included Liudmila Chekina, the director of independent news website Tut.by, appeared together in a photograph with Coale following their release.

Aliaksandrau told the U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) that he had lost 30 kilograms in detention and was “very happy that these almost six years are over.” He added that he hoped the releases would continue, saying that political prisoners in Belarus were “very much waiting for this process to continue.”

Coale wrote on X that “we are not finished!” He told Reuters that he plans to visit Belarus’ capital Minsk in about a month and expects Lukashenko to release all political prisoners by the end of the year.

“I’m confident that we’ll get a lot more out,” Coale said.