Belarusian President Alexandr Lukashenko awarded the grace of 16 people convicts for various crimes, including extremism. Reuters reports that Lukashenko has done so before the upcoming day of the independence of the Republic of Belarus, which falls on July 3, writes TASR.
Lukashenko pardoned eight men and eight women, some of whom suffer from chronic illness, are disadvantaged or have children under 18 years of age, the Belarusian agency Belta added. The presidential office did not disclose the names of the dismissed persons.
Political prisoners in Belarus
According to AFP, there are hundreds of opponents of Lukashenko’s regime in Belarusian prisons. According to the Viasna human rights organization, 1,164 political prisoners are currently in prison in Belarus.
The Belarusian President’s office said that some of the pardoned people were convicted of the crimes of an “extremist nature”, which is, according to AFP, which Minsk uses in cases of political prisoners.
Controversial confessions
“Each of them regretted his actions and promised not to violate the law,” the presidential office said.
AFP claims that Belarusian security services are known to create pressure from political prisoners to confess to alleged crimes or apologize to Lukashenko for their actions.
Applications for pardon
The West Unrecognized Belarusian President pardoned the former leader of the opposition Siaraja Cichanov and 13 other political prisoners. This happened at the request of US President Donald Trump and after the meeting of his special ambassador for Ukraine Keith Kellogg and Lukashenko in Minsk.
Human rights organizations express concerns about the health of prisoners in Belarus. AFP recalls that Cichanovski, who was sentenced to 18 years in 2021, was almost unrecognizable after being released from prison. In prison, where he had no contact with the outside world since March 2023, he lost half of his original weight.
