Belarus’ strongman leader pardons 20 more prisoners, but rights groups say repression continues

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) - Belarus' authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko pardoned 20 more people that rights activists describe as political prisoners, a statement on the president’s website said Saturday.

The announcement came amid persistent oppression in the run-up to presidential elections next month that are likely to extend Lukashenko’s decades-long rule.

Belarusian officials did not provide the names of those released, but the statement posted on the website of the president said that all of them had been convicted of "crimes of an extremist nature.”

The statement said the group included 11 women and 14 of those pardoned suffered from chronic illnesses.

"All of those released repented for 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 group pardons in the past six months.

Saturday's announcement marks the eighth such pardon by Lukashenko since the summer of 2024. In all, 207 political prisoners have been freed, according to Belarus' oldest and most established human rights group, Viasna.

Most were jailed following mass anti-government protests in 2020, when Lukashenko secured his sixth term in a vote widely condemned as fraudulent.

According to Viasna, over 1,250 political prisoners remain behind bars. No prominent opposition figures, many of whom have not been heard from for months on end, have been released.

They include Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Viasna founder Ales Bialiatski; Siarhei Tsikhanouski, who planned to challenge Lukashenko at the ballot box in 2020 but was jailed 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, said Viasna activist Pavel Sapelka, as Minsk prepares to hold new presidential elections in January 2025 that are likely to hand Lukashenko a seventh term in office.

"Lukashenko is sending contradictory signals (to the West), pardoning some but jailing twice as many political prisoners in their place," Sapelka said. "Repression is intensifying and authorities are trying to root out any signs of dissent before the January elections."

Belarusian authorities engineer harsh conditions for political prisoners, denying them meetings with lawyers and relatives, and depriving them of 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 into Ukraine in February 2022 and to deploy some of its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.