Belarus Releases 10 Political Prisoners Including Veteran Opposition Suffering Cancer

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko / PHOTO Mikhail Metzel / Russian Presidential Press and Information Office / TASS

JAKARTA - Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko released 10 political prisoners.

This information was conveyed by human rights activists, Thursday, July 4. The release includes a veteran opposition figure who suffers from cancer.

However, this rare pardon still leaves around 1,400 people imprisoned for political activity. Most of them were arrested after mass peaceful protests in 2020 and convicted of various charges over alleged extremism.

Human rights group Viasna said they knew three women and seven men had been released.

The only person named so far by relatives is Ryhor Kastusiou, 67, a former leader of opposition parties and presidential candidates.

He was arrested in 2021 and sentenced to 10 years in prison the following year after being found guilty of conspiring against the government to seize power. After his arrest, he was diagnosed with cancer.

"This is an extraordinary joy, of course, almost like a child. But this joy is happening through tears - there is also anger at what people should experience," said Inna Kovalenok, a representative of a group of relatives campaigning for the release of prisoners.

Andrei Stryzhak, head of an organization called Bysol who raises funds to support political prisoners and their families, said that assuming the authorities had become more humane is a fantasy.

"Trusting that there is something that suddenly changes in the minds of those who torture, rape, and kill in order to defend power is a dangerous fantasy that approaches betrayal and crime," he wrote on Telegram.

Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, this week announced an amnesty to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Belarus's release from the Nazis in the Second World War. State news agency Belta said the regulation was expected to be applied to around 7,850 detainees including minors, pregnant women, retirees and people suffering from tuberculosis or cancer.

Those convicted of crimes against the state or extremist and terrorist activities are not included in this list, but Lukashenko hints there will be some exceptions for those who are seriously ill.