Germany calls for release of all political prisoners in Belarus

FILE PHOTO: Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Byalyatski, who co-founded the Viasna human rights group, sits inside a defendants' cage during a court hearing in Minsk, Belarus January 5, 2023. Vitaly Pivovarchik/BelTA/Handout via REUTERS

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany strongly condemns the "politically motivated show trial" of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Byalyatski and two other activists in Belarus and calls for the release of all political prisoners in the country, the foreign ministry said on Friday.

"The German government demands the release of all of the more than 1,400 political prisoners," the foreign ministry tweeted. "Violence and repression against Belarusian civil society must stop," it said.