Julia Fenner, a UK-Belarus dual national and the wife of a British diplomat, has been freed from a Belarusian prison and flown out of the country as part of a wider deal that saw 52 detainees released, the British government and rights groups said Friday.
UK Europe Minister Stephen Doughty described the return of a British national as "great news" and called the wider transfer a "significant breakthrough," after an agreement between the United States and Belarus that included easing some sanctions on Belarusian airline Belavia so it could purchase aircraft parts.
Fenner, who was detained at the border as she entered Belarus in March 2024, was given a seven-year jail term last month, human rights monitors said. She had previously worked at the British embassy in Minsk and is married to Martin Fenner, a former deputy head of mission in Minsk, according to the Charter 97 group and other rights organisations.
Belarusian authorities did not publicly specify the charges in detail, but rights groups said Fenner had been accused under criminal code articles covering alleged participation in public disorder and alleged assistance to extremist activity. The Spring 96 group had recognised her as a political prisoner and said she had been held in a penal colony.
The releases followed direct diplomacy between US and Belarusian officials. US President Donald Trump and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko agreed the terms, and the US said it would lift or relax some restrictions on the Belarusian carrier Belavia to permit it to buy spare parts. John Coale, described as a US special envoy, met Lukashenko in Minsk as part of the negotiations.
Fifty-two people were allowed to leave Belarus on Thursday, including trade union leaders, journalists and activists, according to rights groups and Western officials. The freed detainees were received by Belarusian exiled opposition figures in Vilnius, Lithuania, a centre for many activists who fled Minsk after a government crackdown.
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the exiled opposition leader, thanked the US president for securing the release but warned the move was not equivalent to full freedom for those affected. "What happened yesterday wasn't a real freedom," she said, calling the transfer effectively a forced deportation and noting that many political prisoners remain behind bars.
Tikhanovskaya pointed to the case of veteran dissident Mikola Statkevich, who refused to cross into Lithuania with other freed detainees and was photographed sitting in no-man's land on the Belarus-Lithuania border. Statkevich, 69, a longtime opponent of Lukashenko who previously ran for president, had been imprisoned for years after earlier political campaigns and had been released during the recent transfers; his current whereabouts were unclear.
Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus since 1994, called the releases a humanitarian gesture and said Belarus did not need political prisoners. The state news agency Belta quoted him as praising the "constructive stance" taken by the United States on the issue. Rights groups contend such statements contrast with a sustained crackdown on dissent since the disputed 2020 presidential election, which prompted mass protests and arrests.
Despite the departures, human rights organisations estimate that more than 1,000 political prisoners remain incarcerated in Belarus. Many were detained during and after the 2020 protests, which followed an election widely condemned by Western governments as neither free nor fair. Belarusian authorities have systematically suppressed independent media, civil society and opposition figures since then.
The releases take place against the backdrop of close security ties between Minsk and Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been a key ally of Lukashenko, and in February 2022 Moscow used Belarusian territory in the early phase of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. On Friday, the two countries began five days of joint military exercises, dubbed "Zapad-2025," prompting heightened alert in neighbouring NATO members Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. Poland has moved to close sections of its border with Belarus and Latvia has partially shut its airspace as a precaution.
British and US officials hailed the immediate outcome of the talks as a diplomatic success in securing the release of foreign and Belarusian detainees, while rights groups and opposition figures urged continued pressure on Minsk to release those still imprisoned and to allow those deported to return if they choose. The UK government thanked US diplomatic efforts for playing a central role in securing the outcome.
Human rights monitors emphasised that the transfers do not resolve broader concerns about rule of law and political repression in Belarus, and they called for continued international scrutiny and support for those who remain detained or displaced by the government's actions.
