Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Saturday freed 23 political prisoners, state media reported, the latest mass pardoning ahead of next week’s presidential election.
The authoritarian leader, in power since 1994, is set to extend his rule next weekend in a contest that his critics, the West and independent rights groups have slammed as nothing more than a show.
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Lukashenko and his riot police cracked down hard on tens of thousands of protestors who took to the streets in 2020 to protest widespread allegations of electoral fraud in that year’s presidential vote.
Rights groups say the country has more than 1,000 political prisoners, including protest leaders and Lukashenko’s opponents arrested in 2020.
On Saturday, he pardoned 23 people – three women and 20 men – who authorities said had committed “crimes of an extremist orientation,” state media reported.
More than 200 people have been freed in a string of such pardons over the last six months in the run-up to the January 26 vote.
Lukashenko will face no genuine competition in that contest and in a visit to a factory last week said he saw no point in conducting debates and was not really following the election campaign.
The identities of those released in Saturday’s pardon were not made public and it was not clear if any of them were prominent figures in the country’s opposition.
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Political prisoners are held in tough conditions, often denied access to lawyers or contact with relatives on the outside.
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