By Mark Trevelyan
(Reuters) – Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko pardoned 15 prisoners on Friday in what state media called a humanitarian gesture, two days before an election in which he is set to extend his 31-year rule.
Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is assured of winning a new five-year term on Sunday. The exiled opposition says the vote is a sham because all his leading critics have been jailed or forced to flee the country.
State media said Lukashenko had pardoned eight people convicted of extremist activity and seven sentenced for drug crimes. It did not give any of their names. Earlier this week, he signed a decree raising pensions by an average of 10%.
Political analysts say Lukashenko is hoping to use the election and successive batches of prisoner releases to try to repair relations with the West, which has imposed waves of sanctions on Belarus over its human rights record and support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
His efforts have become more urgent, they say, as he contemplates the likelihood of Ukraine peace talks this year and tries to secure gains for himself and Belarus if the conflict comes to an end.
Mass protests nearly swept Lukashenko from power after the last election in 2020, when Western governments backed the opposition’s assertion that he falsified the results and stole victory from its candidate, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. He used his security apparatus to crush the demonstrations, arresting tens of thousands of people.
Since then, the European Union and the United States have refused to recognise him as the legitimate leader of the country. He denies vote-rigging and says it is the people who have chosen to keep him in power.
Human rights group Viasna, which is banned in Belarus as an extremist organisation, says there are about 1,250 political prisoners in the country, even after the release of more than 250 in the past year. Many of those freed were sick, elderly or close to the end of their sentences.
Lukashenko denies there are any political prisoners.
‘USUAL GAME’
Tsikhanouskaya, the head of the exiled opposition, told Reuters in an interview this week that Lukashenko was playing his “usual game” of drip-feeding prisoner releases in the hope of winning rewards from the West.
“What in the democratic world you call elections has nothing in common with this event in Belarus. Because it’s mostly like a ritual for dictators, when they are reappointing themselves,” she said.
Lukashenko faces four other candidates in Sunday’s vote but none poses any serious challenge. He has said he is too busy to keep track of the election campaign, and did not take part in a televised debate between the candidates this week.
(Reporting by Mark Trevelyan, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
