France, Dec. 13 -- Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has locked up thousands of his opponents, critics and protestors since an election in 2020 that rights groups widely said was rigged and triggered weeks of unprecedented protests across the country.

Kolesnikova was the star of the 2020 street protests that almost toppled Lukashenko -- in power since 1994 -- and famously ripped up her passport as the KGB tried to deport her.

Bialiatski -- a 63-year-old veteran rights defender and 2022 Nobel Prize winner and former vice-president of the Paris-based human rights organisation FIDH -- is considered by Lukashenko to be a personal enemy and has documented rights abuses for decades.

"Ales Bialiatski is free!," rights group Viasna sai...