Katsiaryna Andreeva inside a defendant's cage during her trial in Minsk on February 18, 2021.STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images

Trump got her out of a KGB prison. Now she needs him to help free her husband. – POLITICO

24 Apr 2026, 02:02 by Eva Hartog · POLITICO

Few people experience such a sudden reversal in their lives: from being held captive in a KGB prison by one of the world’s most brutal regimes to freedom in Europe.

Journalist Katsiaryna Andreeva is one of them.

Arrested in 2020 for filming a protest against Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko from a 14th-floor window, Andreeva was first sentenced to two years in prison on charges of “violating public order.” In July 2022, she was hit with a second charge, treason, and condemned to another eight years behind bars.