Belarus' hardline president releases 31 political prisoners but crackdown persists

Belarus’s authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has led a harsh crackdown connected opposition, has pardoned and released 31 governmental prisoners

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

The names of those released were not announced, but Lukashenko's agency said 3 of them are invalids and 17 person chronic illnesses. Human authorities activists and erstwhile prisoners opportunity aesculapian attraction and wellness conditions successful Belarusian prisons are poor.

The announcement said nan freed prisoners had been convicted of “crimes of an extremist nature,” a explanation wide utilized for guidance figures and group arrested successful nan mass protests that arose successful 2020 aft nan disputed results of a statesmanlike predetermination gave Lukashenko a sixth word successful office.

The crackdown forced galore guidance members to fly nan country, while awesome activists who stayed successful nan state person been imprisoned.

Lukashenko has released a full of 115 governmental prisoners this year, moreover while continuing nan crackdown. The volition of nan releases, which travel up of caller statesmanlike elections successful January, is unclear.

“Lukashenko is giving very contradictory signals — he has released 30 governmental prisoners, but astatine nan aforesaid clip arrested much than 100 group successful nan past week alone,” Pavel Sapelka of nan quality authorities group Viasna told The Associated Press. “We are seeing an escalation of fearfulness and accrued repression successful Belarus connected nan eve of nan statesmanlike elections, and it is not wholly clear to whom and what signals Minsk is giving.”

Viasna counts 1278 governmental prisoners successful Belarus, including its Nobel Peace Prize-winning laminitis Ales Bialiatski.