Former DW reporter and media trainer freed from prison

“We are relieved to hear that Andrei Aliaksandrau and other political prisoners in Belarus have been released,” said Carsten von Nahmen, managing director of DW Akademie. Following negotiations between Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko and U.S. special envoy to Belarus, John Coale, another 25 prisoners were recently released, including Aliaksandrau and his wife, Iryna Zlobina. 

“Andrei Aliaksandrau paid for his convictions and professional work with nearly six years of his life. Journalism and advocating for freedom of expression are not crimes,” von Nahmen said. 

According to media reports, those released have been brought to Lithuania. 

Aliaksandrau, who served as the deputy director of the news agency BelaPAN from 2014-2018, and his wife were detained in early 2021 on charges of financing illegal protests and paying fines for detainees at demonstrations. Aliaksandrau had originally been sentenced to 14 years in prison for high treason. 

BelaPAN, the oldest independent news agency in Belarus, shut down in November 2021 after Belarusian authorities labeled it an “extremist organization.” 

Andrei Aliaksandrau previously worked as a journalist for DW's Russian-language editorial team and later as a media trainer with DW Akademie.