Human Rights Defenders and OTK Check Information on 15 People Pardoned in Belarus

Reform.news Editorial Team · 24 September 2026, 23:00

https://reform.news/en/human-rights-defenders-and-otk-check-information-on-15-people-pardoned-in-belarus/

The Office for Social Policy of the United Transitional Cabinet is in contact with human rights organizations and, together with them, is checking information about 15 people convicted who were pardoned today by a decree signed by Aliaksandr Lukashenka.

According to Lukashenka’s press service, 10 women were among those pardoned, and 13 people had been convicted of “crimes of an extremist nature.” Their names were not disclosed.

Yulia Mitskevich, acting representative of the United Transitional Cabinet for social policy, emphasized that the information should be treated with caution until the identities of those released have been established.

“We are very concerned and waiting for any information about people who may have been released. But the most important thing now is to verify it. We do not yet know who these people are, whether they were actually released under the pardon, what charges they were convicted of, or what sentence they were serving,” she said.

“We have encountered similar reports before. After verification by human rights defenders, it turned out that there were no people recognized as political prisoners among those released. ‘Actions of an extremist nature’ do not necessarily mean political persecution. Therefore, our main task now is to find out exactly who has been released,” Mitskevich emphasized.

It is therefore not yet known whether any political prisoners were among those pardoned. They could include, in particular, people sentenced to restricted freedom with placement in an open-type correctional institution, the so-called “khimiya,” or people who are not included on the lists of political prisoners maintained by human rights organizations.

The United Transitional Cabinet said it would provide additional information once confirmed data becomes available.

Information about people who may have been released is requested to be reported to the Viasna Human Rights Center (@Viasnainfo), Country for Life, or Dissidentby (@Dahary_nahami) — if it is safe for you to do so.