September 28, Pozirk. Alaksandar Łukašenka told students in Minsk yesterday that he will continue to pardon those convicted of what he called extremist crimes.
“This is the constitutional duty of the president,” he said, as quoted by his press office.
“Those who repented and promised to change their position and not disturb other people” will be released, Łukašenka said, adding that “sometimes they break their obligations.”
He went on to say that he was not pressured into pardoning political prisoners.
“Nobody asked me and there was no exchange. We looked into the issue. One was sick, [Belarusian Popular Front chairman Ryhor] Kastusioŭ. He and [lawyer Juryj] Ziankovič wanted to shoot down the president’s landing helicopter, etc. What did you get yourself into? Cancer was discovered. Why keep him in prison? We released him and others who are sick, lame, etc. So, we released them for purely humanitarian reasons,” he said.
The Belarusian ruler has pardoned 115 political prisoners so far. There are 1,325 documented political prisoners in Belarus.
