Tsikhanouski, the husband of exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, had been serving an 18-year sentence—extended last year to 19 ½ years—for organizing anti-government protests before the disputed 2020 election.
His freedom was hailed by Tsikhanouskaya, who said “1,150 political prisoners remain behind bars”.
Poland’s statement said a ministry representative attended the hand-over at the U.S. embassy in Vilnius and thanked Trump, Polish President Andrzej Duda and U.S. envoys Keith Kellogg, John Coale and Congressman Chris Smith.
Warsaw hopes the breakthrough will lead to the release of more detainees, including journalist Andrzej Poczobut, Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski wrote on X.
Kellogg met Lukashenko earlier on Saturday in what Minsk media called “confidence-building” talks. Neither Belarus nor Washington immediately commented on future prisoner exchanges.
The three freed Poles were not named. Poland says it has lobbied for their release since mass arrests followed Lukashenko’s post-election crackdown.
Poczobut, a prominent ethnic-Polish activist and reporter, remains in a maximum-security colony, serving an eight-year sentence imposed in 2023 for “inciting hatred”.
Western governments have sanctioned Belarus for jailing critics and aiding Russia’s war on Ukraine. Saturday’s releases are the first large gesture from Minsk since early 2022, but rights groups say hundreds of dissidents, journalists and protestors still languish in prison.
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Source: PAP, Polskie Radio 24