Belarus opposition leader Viktor Babariko freed: rights group

Belarus on Saturday freed jailed opposition leader Viktor Babariko in a major release of political prisoners, the Viasna rights group said.

"Viktor Babariko is free," the group said in a post on social media, following confirmation that protest leader Maria Kolesnikova and Nobel Prize Winner Ales Bialiatski had also been released in the US-brokered deal.

Babariko was a major challenger to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko before being jailed ahead of 2020 elections which rights groups and independent monitors widely decried as rigged, triggering mass protests across the country, a close ally of Russia.