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8 more political prisoners have been released in Belarus by pardon, the total number since the summer is 258

2025 2025-02-04T12:01:06+0300 2025-02-04T12:01:18+0300 en https://spring96.org/files/images/sources/zhanchyny-kalonia-2.jpg The Human Rights Center “Viasna” The Human Rights Center “Viasna”
The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

On January 24, Aliaksandr Lukashenka signed another decree pardoning political prisoners. This was announced by his official Telegram channel. It is reported that eight political prisoners have been pardoned, including five women and three men. It is reported that five of them have children, and one woman is pregnant.

According to estimates by Viasna human rights activists, 258 political prisoners have been released by pardon since July 2024. There are 71 women and 187 men among them. There were ten waves of pardons in total.

It is worth noting that despite the release of political prisoners by pardon, their number remains consistently high: at the moment, 1,246 political prisoners are imprisoned. Since the summer of 2020, 3,715 people have been recognized as political prisoners by the human rights community.

In the report on the human rights situation in Belarus in 2024, Viasna human rights defenders noted:

"In assessing the pardoning process, it is essential to bear in mind that there are no other realistic mechanisms for early release of political prisoners in the environment created by the regime: political prisoners serve their full court-imposed sentences without access to any possibility of parole under the law or amnesty (the 2022 and 2024 amnesties did not apply to political prisoners), and many have their sentences arbitrarily extended.

Nor does the possibility of public influence on this process seem likely, given the political situation in Belarus. Therefore, the release of more than 200 political prisoners, many of whom had disabilities, severe illnesses, and complex family situations, is undoubtedly an important event. Viasna welcomes all possible efforts in this direction and reemphasizes that the Belarusian authorities are responsible for the lives and health of all political prisoners."

Inform human rights defenders about the released political prisoners on @Viasnainfo

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