Belarus Releases Five Political Prisoners in Rare Amnesty
Almost four years after the country's leader Alexander Lukashenko launched a brutal crackdown on his domestic opponents, Belarus has freed five political prisoners in a rare amnesty.
The 69-year-old, who has led the country since 1994, launched mass repressions after he claimed victory in the disputed 2020 presidential election. Thousands of people were detained in the protests which followed.
On Tuesday he signalled his intention to release some "seriously ill" prisoners, during a press briefing with reporters in the capital, Minsk.
There are still more than 1,400 political prisoners held in Belarus, according to leading human rights group Viasna.
Three men and two women were freed from custody as part of the move on Wednesday, according to Viasna.
Only one of those released, Rygor Kastusev, has been identified so far. The 67-year-old, who ran against Mr. Lukashenko in the 2010 election, was detained in a wave of arrests in 2021. Mr. Kastusev's daughter, Galina, confirmed his release, saying her father was "very happy to be free." She added, "We saw each other, everyone got excited, started crying. We saw that he was home, everything is fine."
Another political prisoner, Irina Schastnaya, was released on June 29. The opposition journalist, who was arrested in 2021 and sentenced to four years in prison, was announced to be free by the My Country Belarus Telegram channel, which she ran before her arrest. She left the country after her release.
Mr. Lukashenko announced on Tuesday that the amnesty would apply to people he accused of "smashing up or undermining the country in 2020" and those who were "truly ill, mostly with cancer."
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the exiled opposition leader widely believed to have won the 2020 election against Mr. Lukashenko, cautiously welcomed the releases. "I am glad to see these people free and reunited with their loved ones," she posted on X, formerly Twitter. However, she highlighted that many political prisoners remained incarcerated, with over 200 suffering from "critical health conditions." She noted that at least six had died behind bars and stressed that their release was an urgent humanitarian issue, not a political one.
Ms. Tikhanovskaya's husband, Sergei Tikhanovsky, remains in jail after being arrested in May 2020, just two days after declaring his intention to challenge Mr. Lukashenko in the presidential election. He has not been heard from in over a year, and there is no indication that he will be among those released, according to a spokesperson for Ms. Tikhanovskaya.
There are also concerns for Maria Kolesnikova - an opposition activist who tore up her passport after authorities kidnapped her and drove her to the border in a bid to force her to leave Belarus in September 2020. She was later sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Ms Kolesnikova's lawyer said earlier this year that he hadn't had contact with his client since February 2023.
For decades, Mr Lukashenko sought to play Russia and the European Union off against each other. His established practice was to release political prisoners to win favour with leaders in Brussels and spark a thaw in relations.
But that relationship ended in 2020, after he claimed victory in the presidential election and launched waves of repressions.
Since then, Mr. Lukashenko has become dependent on President Vladimir Putin for support, following the Russian leader's agreement to send troops to help sustain his regime amid mass protests by thousands of Belarusians.
Given the modest number of prisoners released, it seems unlikely that Wednesday's releases indicate a return to Mr. Lukashenko's earlier attempts to court the West. Many detainees remain unaccounted for, while the secret police continue to arrest others accused of undermining the regime.
