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Belarus released more than a dozen political prisoners on Thursday in what observers describe as the latest move influenced by pressure from the United States against opponents of President Alexander Lukashenko.
Human rights organisations say that more than 1,100 critics of Lukashenko remain imprisoned. Many of them were detained during a sweeping crackdown that followed the disputed 2020 Belarusian presidential election, which sparked widespread street protests over alleged electoral fraud.
The Belarusian presidency announced that 18 individuals had been freed on Thursday. According to officials, 15 of them had previously been convicted on charges of “extremism”, a legal accusation frequently used against political opponents.
Authorities also disclosed that 11 of those released were women, including one who was in the advanced stages of pregnancy.
In recent years, Minsk has carried out several rounds of prisoner releases, freeing hundreds of detainees. These moves have often coincided with negotiations in which Washington offered limited sanctions relief in return.
The human rights organisation Viasna Human Rights Centre estimates that 1,140 political prisoners are still being held across the country.
Belarus’s prison system is widely regarded as highly secretive. Many detainees are reportedly held without communication for months and often emerge with serious health issues upon release.
Opposition politician Mikola Statkevich, one of the most prominent dissidents recently freed, reportedly suffered a stroke while in detention and struggled to speak following his release last month, according to his wife.
Belarus remains a close ally of Russia and allowed Moscow to use its territory as a staging ground for the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Because of the crackdown on protesters and its support for Russia’s war effort, Belarus has faced a series of sanctions imposed by Western countries.
