Belarus' hardline president releases 31 political prisoners but crackdown persists

TALLINN, Estonia -- Belarus's authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has led a harsh crackdown on opposition, pardoned and released 31 political prisoners, his office announced Thursday.

The names of those released were not announced, but Lukashenko's office said three of them are invalids and 17 have chronic illnesses. Human rights activists and former prisoners say medical care and health conditions in Belarusian prisons are poor.

The announcement said the freed prisoners had been convicted of “crimes of an extremist nature,” a description widely used for opposition figures and people arrested in the mass protests that arose in 2020 after the disputed results of a presidential election gave Lukashenko a sixth term in office.

The crackdown forced many opposition members to flee the country, while major activists who stayed in the country have been imprisoned.

Lukashenko has released a total of 115 political prisoners this year, even while continuing the crackdown. The intention of the releases, which come ahead of new presidential elections in January, is unclear.

“Lukashenko is giving very contradictory signals — he has released 30 political prisoners, but at the same time arrested more than 100 people in the last week alone,” Pavel Sapelka of the human rights group Viasna told The Associated Press. “We are seeing an escalation of fear and increased repression in Belarus on the eve of the presidential elections, and it is not entirely clear to whom and what signals Minsk is giving.”

Viasna counts 1278 political prisoners in Belarus, including its Nobel Peace Prize-winning founder Ales Bialiatski.