Belarus opposition urges immediate release of over 200 political prisoners in dire state

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Belarusian opposition leader in exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya on Thursday said 224 political prisoners in Belarus must be freed urgently, and called on Western countries to negotiate their release with the Belarusian authorities.

Belarus' authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko in 2020 unleashed a brutal crackdown on dissent in response to mass protests that broke out after an election that handed him his sixth term in office and was denounced by the opposition and the West as rigged.

More than 65,000 people have been detained since then as repressions continued unabated, according to the Viasna human rights group. The group has designated over 1,300 currently behind bars as political prisoners.

Tsikhanouskaya, who ran against Lukashenko in 2020 and was forced to leave the country shortly after the vote, said Thursday that the opposition and human rights advocates identified 224 political prisoners who should be immediately released — “minors, the elderly, those with serious medical conditions or mothers of multiple children.”