Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Washington, as President Donald Trump look on. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Belarus releases US citizen who was jailed for years
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) 鈥 Belarus on Wednesday released a U.S. citizen who had been jailed on allegations of plotting to assassinate the country’s authoritarian leader, charges his supporters and the U.S. government called bogus.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Washington, as President Donald Trump look on. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) 鈥 Belarus on Wednesday released a U.S. citizen who had been jailed on allegations of plotting to assassinate the country’s authoritarian leader, charges his supporters and the U.S. government called bogus.
Youras Ziankovich, a lawyer who has dual Belarusian and U.S. citizenship, was convicted on a number of charges, including plotting a coup against , and given an 11-year sentence in September 2022. He then had six months added to his sentence later that year.
In August 2024, a court in Belarus handed Ziankovich an additional two-year sentence on charges of 鈥渕alicious disobedience to the prison administration,鈥 bringing his overall prison term to 13 1/2 years.
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The U.S. government on Wednesday identified the man as Youras Ziankovich but his name has also been rendered as Yuras Zyankovich in different news accounts.
U.S. Secretary of State , who designated Ziankovich as wrongfully detained in February, announced his release on Wednesday and said he would return to the United States soon. Rubio acknowledged 鈥淟ukashenko鈥檚 humanitarian gesture鈥 and thanks the Lithuanians, calling them 鈥渋ncredible allies鈥 who have been 鈥渟upportive of our efforts these past few months to bring Americans home.鈥
Ziankovich was arrested in Russia in April 2021 together with Alexander Feduta, who served as a spokesman for Lukashenko when he was first elected in 1994. Feduta later joined the opposition.
Russia鈥檚 Federal Security Service, the country鈥檚 main security agency also known as the FSB, said at the time without offering any evidence that Ziankovich and Feduta came to Moscow to meet with opposition-minded Belarusian generals and were plotting a military coup.
In 2020, Belarus was rocked by its following an election that gave Lukashenko a sixth term in office but was condemned by the opposition and the West as fraudulent. In response to the demonstrations, Lukashenko unleashed a harsh crackdown on dissent. According to Viasna, Belarus鈥 top human rights group, 65,000 people have been arrested since the protests began and hundreds of thousands have fled Belarus.
Pavel Sapelka, a rights advocate with Viasna, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Ziankovich has been 鈥渦nder constant and harsh pressure from the authorities鈥 behind bars and lost a lot of weight in harsh prison conditions.
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Since last year, Lukashenko pardoned about 250 political prisoners. this past February.
Some 1,200 political prisoners remain behind bars in Belarus, according to Viasna.
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Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.
