Trump envoy Coale in Belarus for new talks on prisoner releases

• U.S. envoy John Coale arrived in Minsk on Tuesday for talks with President Alexander Lukashenko.
• Coale is tasked by President Donald Trump with negotiating the release of political prisoners in Belarus.
• Human rights group Viasna states Belarus holds more than 900 political prisoners.
• U.N. experts reported systematic human rights violations in Belarus, including arbitrary arrests and torture.

U.S. envoy John Coale arrived in Minsk on Tuesday for his first talks in six months with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, aiming to negotiate the release of political prisoners. Coale, appointed by President Donald Trump, has previously succeeded in securing the freedom of hundreds of individuals in exchange for the easing of U.S. sanctions against Belarus.

The Telegram channel of Lukashenko's administration published a photo of Coale arriving for the talks. Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, rejects the description of the individuals as political prisoners, referring to them as lawbreakers and "bandits."

Human rights group Viasna claims that Belarus still holds over 900 political prisoners. Exiled Belarusian opposition figures have welcomed Coale's diplomatic efforts as a humanitarian intervention but argue that Lukashenko continues to arrest new individuals as others are released. Ales Bialiatski, a human rights campaigner who was himself freed and deported last year, described the process as a "pure trade" that does not alter the fundamental nature of the Belarusian regime, noting that "the machinery of repression keeps running."

U.N. experts on Tuesday stated they had found "systematic" violations of international human rights obligations at all stages of the judicial process in Belarus, citing arbitrary arrests, torture, denial of legal safeguards, closed trials, and continued harassment of former detainees.