EU official freed in Trump-brokered Belarus prisoner release

A European diplomatic staffer in Belarus was among 52 prisoners released on Thursday in a deal brokered by Washington.

Under the pact, Minsk agreed to free dozens of political prisoners after the U.S. consented to lift sanctions on its national airline.

Mikalai Khilo, a Belarusian member of staff at the EU’s mission to Minsk, had been sentenced in January to four years in a penal colony. Viasna, a Belgian human rights NGO that has tracked his case, posited in the wake of his April 2024 arrest that he had been charged with insulting strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko.

“Mikalai safely arrived at our Representation in Vilnius,” said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a post on X Thursday afternoon. She thanked U.S. President Donald Trump for his “support” in securing the deal.

According to an EU official who was granted anonymity to speak freely, Khilo was originally apprehended by the Belarusian KGB intelligence service in front of the EU delegation office.

According to Viasna, 1,153 people continue to be detained as political prisoners in Belarus.