{"id":209398,"date":"2026-10-28T17:29:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T14:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/209398\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T17:32:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T14:32:15","slug":"political-prisoners-will-miss-out-on-upcoming-amnesty-viasna-predicts","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/209398\/","title":{"rendered":"Political prisoners will miss out on upcoming amnesty, Viasna predicts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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October 28, Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> The Viasna Human Rights Center Human predicted that no political prisoners would be released as part of the new amnesty campaign announced by Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only four political prisoners have been released under amnesty laws over the six years of mass repression in Belarus, the Viasna Human Rights Center said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The four amnestied individuals were serving terms in open-type correctional institutions and freed in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The previous amnesty campaigns did not apply to \u201cextremism-related crimes,\u201d which made all political prisoners ineligible for amnesty. In addition, according to Viasna\u2019s Valancin Stefanovi\u010d, political prisoners cannot be amnestied because most of them have the status of \u201cpersistent violators of prison rules.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authorities prefer pardons to amnesty because pardoning allows Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka to continue trading in political prisoners for his political goals, commented Stefanovi\u010d. In March 2026, the rights defender was released from prison and expelled to Lithuania after nearly five years behind bars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier on Wednesday, the Belarusian ruler\u2019s press office announced that Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka had ordered the interior ministry to draft an amnesty bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWomen are at the heart of this upcoming act of humanism,\u201d the press office said. \u201cThis is a chance to correct mistakes and atone for them through conscientious work, to return to normal life in society and to preserve families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government has conducted three amnesty campaigns in Belarus over the past five years. The most recent one marked the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union\u2019s victory over Nazi Germany in the 1941-45 Great Patriotic War. There were no political prisoners among the 7,630 convicts who were granted amnesty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Viasna had identified 884 political prisoners in Belarus as of October 28. Human rights defenders estimated that 113 women were behind bars for political reasons on September 30.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0141uka\u0161enka has been releasing groups of political prisoners, including many women, since July 2024, granting them a formal \u201cpresidential pardon\u201d or expelling them from Belarus without any official record of pardon. Most of the releases have been linked to the easing of US sanctions against Belarus as a result of talks between Minsk and Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0141uka\u0161enka issued his most recent pardoning edict on September 24, setting 15 people free, including 13 individuals convicted of \u201cextremism-related crimes.\u201d Ten of those pardoned were women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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