Author, News Department
Place of work, BBC Russian Service
Published 2 minutes ago
Reading time: 4 min
Alexander Lukashenko pardoned another 15 prisoners, the United States will purchase potassium from Belarus, and the appeal court in the case of Yuri Garavsky has begun in Switzerland.
The Russian service talks about the main things in Belarus for the week.
Lukashenko pardoned 15 prisoners
On September 24, Alexander Lukashenko pardoned 15 people, including 13 political prisoners.
According to the press service of the Belarusian leader, all of them “submitted petitions for pardon, admitted guilt, repented of their actions, and also promised to lead a law-abiding lifestyle.”
The names of those released are being clarified; 10 women are still free.
On September 16, after Lukashenko’s meeting with Trump’s special envoy John Cole, 25 people were released. They were forcibly taken out of the country to Lithuania.
Later, according to human rights activists, some of these people headed to Poland, where their relatives and friends were waiting for them.
According to the Viasna human rights center, more than 880 political prisoners are still behind bars in Belarus.
The US will buy potash from Belarus
In October, the first shipment of Belarusian potash fertilizers in four years is due to arrive at the port of New Orleans, Reform reported, citing industry agency Argus Media.
Earlier, President Donald Trump reported on Truth Social that the United States would begin purchasing Belarusian potassium.
“The United States is working on a large-scale deal to purchase potash fertilizers from Belarus. The price will be significantly lower than what we currently pay Canada, which is great news for our farmers and ranchers,” Trump said.
Let us recall that on September 16, US Presidential Advisor John Cole met with Lukashenko in Minsk. After this, the United States lifted sanctions on OJSC Lakokraska and the Bellesbumprom concern.
In a comment to the American edition of the New York Times, Cole expressed hope that the European Union will be able to ensure the transit of Belarusian potassium through Lithuania (its transportation is currently prohibited by sanctions).
However, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said that Belarusian potash fertilizers cannot enter the EU territory.
“What is happening between the United States and Belarus is a bilateral relationship, a relationship between these states. The lifting of US sanctions is not directly related to the actions of the European Union, to its sanctions policy,” he said in an interview with the Lithuanian website LRT.
On September 21, Alexander Lukashenko said that supplies of Belarusian potassium were reoriented to the east, adding that “the harsh economic attacks from the countries of the European Union have not gone away.”
Dmitry Kruk, a researcher at the BEROC analytical center, believes that a potential deal with the Americans is logistically possible by bypassing the European Union - Minsk and Washington can use existing routes through Russian ports. According to the website “Belarusians and the Market”, Leningrad ports provide 90% of the transshipment of Belarusian potassium.
“If this scheme expands and continues further, of course, they will look for ways to reduce the cost of implementation, the cost of logistics, and will try, including through political instruments, to push the route through more logical ports, Klaipeda, or Ventspils, or perhaps there were even rumors about Ukraine,” Kruk noted in a comment to the BBC Russian Service.
According to Kruk, the lifting of US sanctions on Belaruskali will also allow Minsk to strengthen its pricing policy for these fertilizers.
“Sanctions and problems related to transportation led to the fact that, at least in the Chinese market, “Belaruskali was forced to agree to a huge discount, up to 50% of the market value.”
“You need to understand that the entire production cycle is located in Belarus, there is no dependence on Russian oil supplies or anything else. Therefore, the share of potassium in GDP is quite significant, that is, it systematically affects the dynamics of the entire Belarusian economy,” concluded Kruk.
The appeal court in the case of Yuri Garavsky began in Switzerland
On September 22, the appeal court began in the case of former Belarusian SOBR fighter Yuri Garavsky.
The hearing is taking place in the Cantonal Court with the Chamber of Criminal Cases, writes the Viasna human rights center.
In 2023, Garavsky gave official testimony for the first time in the case of the “death squad” - the disappearance in 1999 of two well-known Belarusian oppositionists Viktor Gonchar and Yuri Zakharenko and businessman Anatoly Krasovsky.
Garavsky stated that the security forces were behind their abductions and murders. He himself insisted that he was only detaining, not killing.
Enforced disappearance falls under universal jurisdiction, and a case against Garavski was opened in Switzerland under this article.
Then the plaintiffs were the daughters of the missing oppositionists: Elena Zakharenko and Valeria Krasovskaya. Gonchar's family is still in Belarus and therefore did not participate in the case.
In 2023, the court completely acquitted Garavsky, but the relatives of Zakharenko and Krasovsky did not agree with the acquittal and filed an appeal. The prosecutor's office also initially appealed the decision, but then withdrew its appeal.
According to Trial International, as part of the current appeal process, the court has ruled that the applicants cannot speak on the episode of the disappearance of Viktor Gonchar, since there are no close relatives among them.
Therefore, Garavsky’s acquittal regarding the disappearance of Gonchar remains in force, and the appeal is being considered for the episodes related to the disappearances of Yuri Zakharenko and Anatoly Krasovsky. At the same time, the court may take into account evidence related to Gonchar’s disappearance when considering these two episodes.
