Human rights group reports first political prisoner release under amnesty

January 12, BPN. The Dissidentby human rights group reports that Piotr Zinievič, 53, a TV engineer from Baranavičy, was released under an amnesty program on January 11.

Zinievič was serving a two-year “restricted freedom” sentence in an open-type correctional facility. He was convicted for posting a picture of a local police officer captioned, “Dispersed rallies and tortured people” to his VKontakte page. 

This is the first known release of a recognized political prisoner under the program.

Alaksandr Łukašenka signed the law “On the National Unity Day Amnesty” in December. On September 6, Prosecutor General Andrej Švied had signaled that the amnesty would not benefit those convicted on political grounds, although the regular pardon procedure could apply.