Belarus leader Lukashenko pardons 30 jailed protesters

By Mark Trevelyan

(Reuters) -Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has pardoned 30 people who were convicted of taking part in protests, state media reported on Friday.

The country's exiled opposition said it welcomed the move, which it said would mean the release of some prisoners who were seriously ill, but that none of Lukashenko's most prominent critics were on the list of those to be freed.

"These are people who either have a health condition or cancer or very complicated family situations, with children. Half of them are women, from what we know, but no big names there," Franak Viacorka, an aide to exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, told Reuters.

Tsikhanouskaya said in a statement: "This is great news, regardless of the reasons, and we hope to see more. But let's not forget: arrests continue every day, and many still remain imprisoned. We will keep fighting for the freedom of every single one."

Lukashenko, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been in power for three decades. In 2020 he used his police and security forces to crush mass protests after an election that the opposition and the West accused him of rigging to cheat Tsikhanouskaya of victory.

State news agency Belta said 14 women and 16 men had been pardoned, including pensioners and people with serious illnesses. It did not give any of their names.

"They all admitted guilt, sincerely repented of their actions and committed to leading a law-abiding lifestyle. The Ministry of Internal Affairs will ensure control over the fulfillment of such obligations on behalf of the head of state," Belta said.

Viacorka said the pardons formalised a process in which 19 people had already left prison last month, and others had been freed in the past few days or were in the process of being released.

Human rights groups say some 1,400 political prisoners are being held in Belarus. Among the best known are Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski, 2020 protest leader Maria Kalesnikava and Syarhey Tsikhanouski, husband of Sviatlana.

In recent months, dozens of other Nobel Prize winners have joined calls on Lukashenko to free all the detainees.

Viacorka said those freed were on a list that the opposition and human rights groups had handed to Belarusian authorities through diplomats and international organisations.

"Frankly speaking we are happy that some lives may be saved," he said in a telephone interview, adding that their names were not being made public at this point.

"People are released from small prisons to a big prison, which is Belarus. And before they are abroad, they are not safe," he said.

(Reporting by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Angus MacSwan)