Since 2020, 605 political prisoners in Belarus have been “pardoned,” while over the same period 4,499 people have been granted political prisoner status. They are people of different ages and social backgrounds from across Belarus who were accused under various criminal articles. The data was shared by the human rights center Viasna.
Human rights defenders stress that despite the releases, the conveyor of repression has not stopped: newly detained political prisoners take the place of those who are freed.
Earlier on Thursday, Alyaksandr Lukashenka signed a decree pardoning 18 people, 15 of whom were convicted under “extremism” articles. Most of those pardoned are women, and six of them have children with disabilities. Among those pardoned are also two married couples, a pregnant woman and a person who committed a crime at the age of 16.
