Since the last major pardon of political prisoners on March 19, 2026, another 224 people have been recognized as political prisoners, Viasna human rights center reports.
In March, following talks between U.S. President’s Special Envoy John Coale and the Belarusian authorities, 250 political prisoners were released. After their release, 224 people were recognized as political prisoners, while another 138 people received this status retroactively — by the time they were recognized, they had already been released.
Thus, following the release of 250 political prisoners on March 19, human rights defenders recorded and recognized the detention of another 362 people as politically motivated.
It should be recalled that Coale and Lukashenka held another round of talks today. Lukashenka said that there were no political prisoners in Belarus and also tried to convince Coale that there was no need for new arrests.
“Our fugitives are promoting this issue in the West, and I feel, according to my information, that they have convinced you that while we are releasing some people here, we are continuing the repression and detaining twice as many people to replace them. I want to tell you publicly that this is absolutely untrue,” he said.
