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Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has pardoned another 29 political prisoners, his office said on Monday, with elections due next month as he seeks to extend his hardline 30-year rule.
Minsk orchestrated a huge crackdown on dissent after suppressing protests in the run-up to and wake of disputed elections in 2020 that saw Lukashenko reelected.
Rights groups say more than 1,000 political prisoners are still behind bars.
Eleven women and 18 men accused of committing “extremist” crimes were pardoned in the latest release, the Belarusian presidency said in a statement.
“Among them six are under 25 years old, three are pensioners, two are disabled, 15 have chronic diseases,” the presidency said.
The identities of those released were not made public and it is not clear if any of them were prominent figures in the country’s opposition.
The release marks the seventh round of pardonings since July that have seen more than 160 people freed, according to rights groups.
A former Communist farm leader once dubbed “Europe’s last dictator”, Lukashenko has ruled the eastern European country with an iron fist since 1994.
He has moved Minsk deeper into Russia’s orbit and cracked down hard on any dissent inside the country during his three decades in power.
Political prisoners are held in tough conditions, often denied access to lawyers or contact with relatives on the outside.
bur/bc