Belarus journalist Maryna Zolatava freed after four years

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 14 December 2025 |  JP Global Monitoring Desk

Maryna Zolatava, a Belarusian journalist and former editor of Tut.by, was released from prison after a broader amnesty of political prisoners. Her case underscores the ongoing challenges for independent media in Belarus under Lukashenko's regime.

Summary

MINSK, Belarus — Belarusian journalist Maryna Zolatava, a former editor of the independent news site Tut.by, was released from prison on December 13, 2025, after more than four years in detention as part of a broader release of 123 political prisoners. The move was welcomed by press freedom advocates but underscored that many journalists and activists remain behind bars under President Alexander Lukashenko’s authoritarian regime.

The release of Zolatava, once emblematic of the crackdown on independent media in Belarus, comes amid a diplomatic backdrop in which Minsk agreed to ease tensions with Western powers, including the United States, in exchange for lifting certain sanctions that targeted key sectors of the Belarusian economy.

Press freedom context

Reporters Without Borders, a global press freedom group, said Zolatava had been unjustly imprisoned for her work leading the Tut.by news portal, which was shut down by authorities after its office was seized. She was arrested in May 2021 and later sentenced to a 12â€'year term in a penal colony on charges widely viewed by rights groups as politically motivated.

Her incarceration had become a symbol of the harsh environment for independent journalism in Belarus, where authorities have tightened control over information, blocked leading news sites, and imposed fines and legal actions against media workers.

Lukashenko amnesty and diplomacy

Zolatava was released alongside 122 other political prisoners as part of the largest mass amnesty in Belarus in 2025. The pardons were linked to negotiations with the United States, which agreed to lift sanctions on Belarusian potash exports after two days of talks with President Lukashenko’s government, according to international reporting. Highâ€'profile figures such as Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski and opposition activists were also freed.

Despite the amnesty, rights groups say well over a thousand political prisoners remain in detention in Belarus, including journalists and activists. The broader release highlights both a temporary diplomatic opening and the persistent dangers for independent media and dissenting voices in an authoritarian context.

ATTRIBUTION: This story is based on reporting from Reuters and Reporters Without Borders

PHOTO: Maryna Zolatava (rsf.org)