Nobel Laureate released from jail thanks God and the Vatican

Jonathan Luxmore, OSV News

Tuesday, December 16, 2025

A Catholic 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner who was unexpectedly freed from jail in Belarus has paid tribute to supporters who helped secure his release, while warning that over a thousand political prisoners still languish in his country’s penal colonies. “Although my faith is a personal matter, it constantly sustained me, giving me confidence that I’d be free someday when this harsh time of trial came to an end. I was supposed to stay in jail for another five years, yet now I’m free. This is truly a miracle from God,” said Ales Bialiatski, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2022, while in detention, for helping “demonstrate the significance of civil society for peace and democracy. . . . I’m deeply grateful for moves taken by the Vatican to improve the human rights situation.”