Lukashenko pardons 20 prisoners rights groups say were jailed for political reasons

Belarus' leader Alexander Lukashenko has pardoned a further 20 people who rights activists describe as political prisoners.

That's according to a statement published on Saturday on the president's website.

The announcement comes amid ongoing oppression of political opponents in the run-up to presidential elections which will take place next month and widely expected to extend Lukashenko's decades-long rule.

Belarusian officials did not provide the names of those released, but the statement posted online said that all of them had been convicted of "crimes of an extremist nature."

The statement went on to say that the group included 11 women and 14 of those pardoned suffered from chronic illnesses.

"All of those released repented for their actions and appealed to the head of state to be pardoned," the presidential administration said, using wording familiar from a series of previous group pardons in the past six months.

Saturday's announcement marks the eighth such pardon by Lukashenko since the summer of 2024.

In all, 207 political prisoners have been freed, according to Belarus' oldest human rights group, Viasna.

Most were jailed following mass anti-government protests in 2020, when Lukashenko secured his sixth term in a vote widely condemned as fraudulent.

Around 65,000 people were arrested during those protests with Viasna saying over 1,250 remain behind bars.

No prominent opposition figures, many of whom have not been heard from for months, have been released.

They include Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Viasna founder Ales Bialatski; Siarhei Tsikhanouski, who planned to challenge Lukashenko at the ballot box in 2020 but was jailed before the vote; and Viktar Babaryka, who was also imprisoned after gaining popularity before the