Belarus opposition urges immediate release of over 200 political prisoners in dire state

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TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Belarusian opposition leader in exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya on Thursday said 224 political prisoners in Belarus must be freed urgently, and called on Western countries to negotiate their release with the Belarusian authorities.

Belarus' authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko in 2020 unleashed a brutal crackdown on dissent in response to mass protests that broke out after an election that handed him his sixth term in office and was denounced by the opposition and the West as rigged.

More than 65,000 people have been detained since then as repressions continued unabated, according to the Viasna human rights group. The group has designated over 1,300 currently behind bars as political prisoners.

Tsikhanouskaya, who ran against Lukashenko in 2020 and was forced to leave the country shortly after the vote, said Thursday that the opposition and human rights advocates identified 224 political prisoners who should be immediately released — “minors, the elderly, those with serious medical conditions or mothers of multiple children.”

“These people need to be released immediately and without conditions,” Tsikhanouskaya said in a statement.

The list includes Viasna founder Ales Bialiatski, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, and opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova, whose health is rapidly deteriorating in prison, according to her family.

According to Tsikhanouskaya, 29 of those on the list are in critical condition and “are basically dying in prison.” She said six political prisoners have died behind bars since 2020.

Lukashenko, who has run the country with an iron fist for 30 years and will seek re-election next year, denies that there are political prisoners in Belarus. At the same time, in recent months he has pardoned 115 people who suffered from medical conditions, applied for clemency and publicly repented.

Tsikhanouskaya welcomed the pardons and said "these steps should continue. At the same time, hundreds (more) have been arrested and 142 more people have been designated as political prisoners.”