The U.S. Embassy In Belarus Reacts To The Pardon Of 42 Political Prisoners

• 9.05.2025, 16:42

And called for the release of all prisoners of Lukashenko's regime.

May 7, it became known that Alexander Lukashenko "on the eve of Victory Day" pardoned 42 people, convicted of "crimes of extremist orientation."

The pardoned 18 women and 24 men, 13 of them have chronic diseases, one is disabled. 24 convicts have minor children, two have many children, 10 people are over 50 years old, one has reached retirement age.

The U.S. Embassy in Belarus reacted to the move.

In a statement on the page of the diplomatic mission in social network X noted this step as "positive" and called for the release of all political prisoners.

On May 8, "unconditionally release all political prisoners in Belarus" called on the Belarusian authorities to "unconditionally release all political prisoners in Belarus" by the representative of the European Commission on Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Anouar El-Anouni.

"We take note of the announcement to pardon 42 political prisoners, including people with chronic diseases and in a vulnerable situation," he wrote in the network X.

It should be noted that political prisoners in Belarus are much more than the figure presented by human rights organizations. The Investigative Committee has announced more than 10 thousand criminal cases of protest orientation, which allows estimating the real scale of repression.

Human rights organizations are simply unable to count the number of political prisoners in Belarus and there are many questions about the criteria they use in assessing the people who are being thrown behind bars today.