The time for release is NO:W
Why We Launched This Campaign
Since 2020, thousands of innocent people in Belarus have faced criminal charges simply for peacefully protesting election fraud and state violence. More than 1,100 remain behind bars. They are held in inhumane conditions. Many are ill. Some are kept in permanent isolation. Others have already died in detention.
On May 21, 2025 — the Day of Belarusian Political Prisoners — we launched a joint Manifesto to demand real, long-overdue steps for the release of political prisoners in Belarus.
This was the start of Release N:OW, a campaign by FreeBelarusPrisoners, politzek.me, Foundation “21st May”, Euro-Atlantic Affairs Agency and Taskforce Belarus e.V..
We know, that releases are possible – though not easy to reach. That’s why they need broad public support. That’s why they need you.
NO:W is when we must act
A Humanitarian Crisis in the Heart of Europe
Belarus: 140
Azerbaijan: 56
Venezuela: 33
Russia: 4
Political prisoners per one million inhabitants
Sources: Viasna (Belarus), Memorial (Russia), Foro Penal (Venezuela)
Who are they?
Behind the number of political prisoners — more than 1,100 — is something far greater. Each one a person, with a story, a life, and hopes of their own.
A student who marched with a flower in 2020
A teacher who posted on Facebook against the war in Ukraine
A journalist who covered a protest
A father who donated €20 to support repressed familiest
A pensioner who carried a white-red-white flag
They are not radicals.
They are fellow citizens — people who believed in dignity, truth, and peace. They exercised their constitutional right to speak out — and now they’re serving long prison terms for it.
I imagined a helicopter landing in the prison yard to pick us up. I kept asking myself: why isn’t it coming? Why aren’t we rescued by some UN peacekeepers? You’re there, and you scream inside: Why am I here? Why doesn’t anyone come for us?
– Anastassiya Bulybenko, student.
Quote from a radio feature about penal colonies in Belarus
The time for release is NO:W
We know: releases are possible
Since 2024, more than 300 political prisoners have been freed — in part thanks to quiet diplomatic efforts behind the scenes. We are grateful that this process has begun — and we want it to continue.
Diplomacy has already opened doors. What’s missing is the will to walk through them.
Difficult negotiations and a gradual exit from the crisis are preferable to ruthless confrontation, which could lead to very serious consequences: poverty and destitution, violence and injustice, which would devastate Belarus.
– Ales Bialiatski, Peace Nobel Prize Laureate.
Last word before court, February 13, 2023
What you can do
NO:W is when you, too, must act
Release N:OW is a campaign initiated by:
