Viktar Babaryka Returns to Facebook and Addresses Followers

A participant in Belarus’s 2020 presidential campaign and former political prisoner Viktar Babaryka published his first post on his Facebook blog since his release overnight from Saturday to Sunday.

“Dear friends! After many years of forced silence, I can once again communicate with you from my old account. Smart and wonderful people helped me recover it. Thank you to them for this.

I fully understand that much has changed in this world, and therefore I ask everyone to think carefully and decide whether to keep me among your friends. I would very much hate to put you at risk or to take advantage of the feelings you had before 18.06.20 that motivated you to join the circle of my Facebook friends.

Thank you to everyone who preserved the system of values that united us in 2020,” he wrote.

For verification, Viktar Babaryka posted a recent photo of himself today.

As a reminder, on December 13, 2025, 123 political prisoners were released. Of them, 114 were deported to Ukraine, while the rest were sent to Lithuania. Some did not have passports with them. On December 17, the former political prisoners left Ukraine. Eighty-seven arrived in Poland and 20 in Lithuania. Maria Kalesnikava and Viktor Babariko traveled to Germany. On December 19, they arrived in Berlin, where they were met by German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul.

Viktar Babaryka’s son, Eduard Babaryka, remains imprisoned in Belarus.