Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko pardoned 30 people convicted of “crimes of the protest variety” Friday. Of those released, 14 were women and 16 were men, all retirement-aged or people who suffer from serious illnesses.
According to the statement, the country’s Internal Affairs Ministry, “upon instructions of the head of state,” will supervise the individuals upon release to ensure compliance with Belarusian law.
Opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya welcomed the measure, considering it a “small but important step forward.” Nevertheless, Tsikhanouskaya commented on the importance that every political prisoner be freed. The opposition leader further commented that the Lukashenko government turned the country into a “gulag” and that “no one there will have true freedom until our country is free.”
In July, 17 political prisoners were amnestied and pardoned, following the passage of Belarus’s Law on Amnesty. Similar to Friday’s pardons, the previous amnesty didn’t cover people involved in “extremist and terrorist activities” but mostly people who were ill.
Viasna Human Rights Center demanded Thursday that 22 former political prisoners be rehabilitated and for their criminal cases to be reviewed, together with compensation for all types of damage caused by arbitrary conviction and imprisonment.
The 2020 presidential election in Belarus granted Aleksandr Lukashenko his sixth term in office and sparked a series of protests due to claims of fraud. Further, Belarus authorities a number of criminal persecutions afterwards, which are considered by Human Rights Watch to be politically-motivated.
