Belarusian President Gives Amnesty 31 People Imprisoned For Extremism Crime

JAKARTA - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko granted amnesty or pardon to 31 people convicted of crimes related to "extremism".

State news agency Belta quoted the press service Lukashenko as saying that two women and 29 men were forgiven.

Previously, the Belarusian President granted amnesty to a number of his political opponents who were imprisoned, after participating in the protests when he was re-elected, but is now seriously ill in prison for cancer.

President Lukashenko has been in power since 1994. One of the close allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin has been accused of his opponents and Western human rights groups of human rights for human rights violations and jailing his opponents on various charges.

Protests on the streets broke out in Belarus, something unprecedented, when demonstrators accused Lukashenko of cheating in elections, after being re-elected for a sixth term in 2020.

Police then detained the protesters en masse, human rights groups said more than 25,000 people, in the months after the election.

Opposition rights group Vyasna noted there were about 1,403 political prisoners in the Soviet bank. It said as of May, 254 political prisoners whose health was at risk, including 92 people who were seriously ill and 63 people over 60.