Belarus’ leader pardons 20 more prisoners; rights groups say repression continues

Belarus’ authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko pardoned 20 more people described by human rights activists as political prisoners, according to a statement on the president’s website on Saturday.

The announcement came amid persistent repression ahead of next month’s presidential election that is likely to extend Lukashenko’s decades-long rule.

Belarusian officials did not release the names of those freed, but a statement posted on the president’s website said they were all convicted of “crimes of an extremist nature.”

The press release states that the group included 11 women, and 14 of those pardoned suffered from chronic diseases.

“All those freed have repented of their actions and appealed to the head of state to be pardoned,” the presidential administration said in a statement, using wording familiar from a series of previous mass pardons over the past six months.

Saturday’s announcement marks Lukashenko’s eighth such pardon since the summer of 2024. A total of 207 political prisoners have been freed, according to Belarus’ oldest and most respected human rights group, Viasna.

Most were imprisoned after mass anti-government protests in 2020, when Lukashenko secured his sixth term in elections widely condemned as fraudulent.

According to Viasna, more than 1,250 political prisoners are still behind bars. Not a single prominent opposition figure, many of whom have not been heard from for months, has been released.

Among them are Nobel Peace Prize winner, Viasna founder Ales Bialiatski; Siarhei Tsikhanouski, who planned to challenge Lukashenko at the ballot box in 2020 but was imprisoned before the vote; and Viktar Babaryka, who was also imprisoned after gaining popularity before the election.

The mass pardons come amid a new wave of repression, Viasna activist Pavel Sapelka said, as Minsk prepares to hold new presidential elections in January 2025 that are likely to give Lukashenko a seventh term in power.

“Lukashenko is sending contradictory signals (to the West), pardoning some but imprisoning twice as many political prisoners instead,” Sapelka said. “Repression is intensifying, and the authorities are trying to stamp out any signs of dissent before the January elections.”

The Belarusian authorities create harsh conditions for political prisoners, denying them access to lawyers and relatives and denying them medical care. At least seven political prisoners have died behind bars since 2020, according to Viasna.

Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus with an iron fist for more than 30 years, is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies, allowing Russia to use his country’s territory to send troops to Ukraine in February 2022 and to deploy some of its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.