Lukashenko pardons third batch of jailed opponents in Belarus

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By Mark Trevelyan

(Reuters) -Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Wednesday pardoned 30 more people convicted of protest activity, the third batch in two months, but a human rights group said he was still filling jails with political prisoners as fast as he was emptying them.

Lukashenko, who turned 70 last week and has been in power since 1994, issued a decree saying 23 men and seven women had been pardoned as a “humane gesture”. It did not name them but said most were parents of young children and minors.

Human rights group Viasna said Lukashenko had now pardoned a total of 78 people since the start of July. Dozens have already left prison and more will follow under the latest decree.

“I am relieved that 30 more political prisoners in #Belarus have been pardoned. They are all innocent,” exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya posted on X.

“However, repression continues to escalate & more than 1,400 remain imprisoned on political grounds. We need sustained international pressure to secure the freedom of all of them,” Tsikhanouskaya said.

Her husband Syarhey is among the most prominent prisoners still being held, along with Ales Bialiatski, a rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, and Maria Kalesnikava, a leader of mass protests that came close to toppling Lukashenko in 2020.

The demonstrations broke out after the president claimed victory over Tsikhanouskaya in an election that the opposition and Western governments said he had heavily rigged. Lukashenko used his security apparatus to crush the threat to his hold on power, arresting thousands of people.

Among the prisoners released since July are trade union leader Vasil Berasnieu, former opposition presidential candidate Ryhor Kastusiou, and Kseniya Lutskina, a former state TV journalist who is suffering from a brain tumour.

Dmitry Bolkunets, leader of the “Ultimatum Initiative Group” that is urging the European Union to close its border to all road and rail cargo from Belarus unless Lukashenko frees more prisoners, said Wednesday’s move was a step in the right direction.

He urged the authorities to release at least another 400 people on a “humanitarian list” submitted to them via diplomatic channels.

But rights group Viasna, which has been designated by Belarusian authorities as an extremist grouping, says dissidents are still being jailed as fast as they are being freed.

It says at least 170 people were convicted in July of politically related crimes. In August, the authorities released 53 people whom Viasna considers political prisoners – either under pardons or because they completed their terms – but 52 others were imprisoned.

Viasna said authorities began a new trial this week for Yauhen Kladau, already serving a one-year sentence for insulting Lukashenko after “liking” a social media post with caricatures of the president. He now faces six new charges that could result in a jail sentence of up to 15 years, it said.

(Reporting by Mark Trevelyan; editing by Mark Heinrich)