TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko on Wednesday announced the granting of pardons to 42 imprisoned opposition activists, in what analysts say is an effort at rapprochement with the West.
Belarus was rocked by unprecedented mass protests in 2020, after a disputed election that handed Lukashenko his sixth consecutive term in office. Authorities unleashed a violent crackdown on demonstrators and government critics. More than 65,000 people were arrested by the authorities, according to human rights advocates, and hundreds of thousands fled the country, fearing prosecution.
The United States and the European Union responded with a flurry of crippling sanctions, pushing the country further into the orbit of its powerful neighbor Russia. Belarus depends on Russia for loans and cheap energy, and Lukashenko supported Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Since last year, however, the Belarusian leader has been regularly pardoning small numbers of imprisoned government critics in what analysts saw as a signal that Minsk was seeking to ease tensions with the West.
Between July 2024 and January 2025, Lukashenko pardoned 258 political prisoners. After Donald Trump was sworn into office, he also pardoned three jailed Americans, including Yuras Zyankovich, who was accused of plotting a coup.
Zyankovich was released last week in what political analyst Valery Karbalevich sees as “a present for Trump’s 100 days in office.” “Right now the Belarusian leader hopes to unfreeze relations with the U.S. first and foremost, in order to ease Western sanctions,” Karbalevich said.
He tied the new wave of pardons to “Minsk’s desire to start the dialogue with the West.”
According to Viasna, Belarus’ oldest and most prominent rights group, there are currently 1,177 political prisoners behind bars in the country, including the group’s founder Ales Bialiatski, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022. At least six political prisoners died behind bars.
Lukashenko said Wednesday the new pardons were granted to mark the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.
A total of 14 of the pardoned activists suffer from chronic health conditions and disabilities, 10 are over the age of 50, according to the authorities. All 42 activists, convicted on the charges of extremism, “admitted guilt and repented,” officials said.
Lukashenko on Wednesday also announced a sweeping amnesty for 8,000 people convicted on criminal charges. Most political prisoners, however, will not be eligible for it, according to Pavel Sapelka, a rights activist with Viasna.
Belarusian rights advocates have given the authorities a list of 202 political prisoners that need urgent medical care and should be released, including 28 people in critical condition. Sapelka said “the authorities are creating torturous conditions for political prisoners, depriving them of medical care, care packages and the possibility to talk to their lawyers or families.”
“Lukashenko makes humanitarian gestures, trying to get the West’s attention, and it gives hope that as many political prisoners as possible could be released,” Sapelka added.
Belarusian opposition leader in exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya welcomed the news of the new pardons, but stressed that “we shouldn’t rest until all (political prisoners) will be freed.”
