Four activists jailed in connection with Belarus's contentious presidential election in December 2010 were freed overnight on September 1-2 after surprise pardons from President Alyaksandr Lukashenka. RFE/RL's Belarus Service met up with all four -- Aleh Hnedchyk, Dzmitry Daronin, Ales Kirkevich, and Andrey Protasenya -- as they returned home after their release. (All photos by RFE/RL's Belarus Service)
Pardoned Election Activists Taste Freedom
1
Aleh Hnedchyk had been sentenced to four years in a high-security prison.
2
Hnedchyk told RFE/RL's Belarus Service that he had refused to acknowledge any guilt and remained uncertain why he was pardoned.
3
Hnedchyk expressed hope that all remaining political prisoners would be released within three weeks.
4
Dzmitry Daronin is a Minsk native who was arrested in March.
5
Ales Kirkevich (center) is deputy chairman of the Young Front opposition group.
6
Kirkevich's wife met him at the train station in Minsk. His postelection imprisonment cut short their honeymoon.
7
Kirkevich and the other freed activists were met by friends and well-wishers after months spent in jail.
8
Andrey Protasenya, a campaigner for opposition presidential candidate Yaroslav Romanchuk in Belarus's December 2010 vote, was all smiles as he arrived in Minsk.
9
But Protasenya stressed that while he was out, "I can't say there's a feeling of intense happiness." He was thinking about the nearly 20 other activists still in jail on charges related to the election.
