FILE PHOTO: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko attends a press briefing following talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Minsk, Belarus, May 24, 2024. Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
(Reuters) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has pardoned 30 more people convicted for protest activity, state news agency Belta said on Wednesday.
Human rights activists say there are about 1,400 people in prison in Belarus for voicing dissent against Lukashenko, who has run the country for 30 years. He has intensified a crackdown on opponents since 2020, when mass protests broke out after he claimed victory in an election that the opposition and Western governments said was heavily rigged.
The veteran leader, who turned 70 last week, released 18 people from prison in early July and announced a pardon for 30 individuals on Aug. 16.
Those freed so far include sick and elderly people, some of whom were in any case approaching the end of their sentences.
Among them were 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.
Belta did not name any of those pardoned in the latest batch but said they included 23 men and seven women. Most of them were parents of young children and minors, it said.
"This decision is a humane gesture towards these people. They have received a chance to return to normal life, to their families and work," Belta quoted Lukashenko's press service as saying.
The exiled opposition to Lukashenko says prisoner releases are welcome but do not signal a serious shift in policy. Human rights group Viasna says the rate of prosecutions in Belarus is actually rising, not falling, with at least 170 people convicted in July of politically related crimes.
(Reporting by Reuters; writing by Mark Trevelyan; editing by Mark Heinrich)
