Nobel laureates urge Trump to keep pressing for release of Belarusian prisoners

By Mark Trevelyan

(Reuters) -Nineteen Nobel prize winners have signed an open letter urging U.S. President Donald Trump to keep up pressure to secure the release of as many as 1,300 people imprisoned in Belarus on political grounds.

The letter thanks Trump, who raised the issue in a phone call last week with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, and urges him to do more.

"We respectfully urge you to continue your active efforts to secure the immediate release of all prisoners of conscience in Belarus. Their freedom will not only restore justice to individuals but also open the path toward reconciliation and dialogue," it said.

The signatories included Nobel Peace Prize winner Oscar Arias, literature laureates Svetlana Alexievich and Herta Mueller, and 16 winners of the prizes for physics, chemistry, medicine and economics.

They also called for the dropping of politically motivated prosecutions in order to facilitate the return of Belarusians who fled abroad en masse when Lukashenko crushed huge street protests over a disputed election in 2020.

Trump's surprise intervention last Friday came hours after Dmitry Bolkunets, an exiled Belarusian opposition activist, emailed the U.S. president to ask him to raise the issue of the Belarusian prisoners at his summit in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Lukashenko is a close ally of Putin.

"We intend to nominate you for the Nobel Peace Prize should you help secure the release of Belarusian political prisoners," Bolkunets wrote in the email.

Trump, who claims credit for resolving six wars, has made no secret of his desire to win the award. Later the same day, while en route to the Alaska summit, he posted on social media that he had held "a wonderful talk with the highly respected President of Belarus" in which he had thanked Lukashenko for freeing 16 people and discussed the release of 1,300 more.

He said he also looked forward to meeting Lukashenko, who for years has been ostracised by Western countries over his human rights record and backing for Russia's war in Ukraine.

Bolkunets said he had no doubt that Trump's decision to contact Lukashenko was a spontaneous response to his email, which was copied to several of the president's advisers.

"Literally within 1-2 hours, the call took place," he said, also noting that Trump had used the same figure for the number of prisoners that he had stated in the email.

"Now, Lukashenko is in a position where refusing the U.S. president would be extremely disadvantageous for him. Therefore, it is likely that he will try to somehow expedite the release process... The key here is to ensure that this focus is not lost or diluted," Bolkunets told Reuters.

Since mid-2024, Belarus has released several hundred people convicted of "extremism" and other politically related offences, in what analysts see as a bid by Lukashenko to ease his isolation from the West.

Lukashenko denies there are any political prisoners in the country.

(Reporting by Mark TrevelyanEditing by Christina Fincher)