Belarus Headlines

Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka pardoned another 11 opposition activists who were sentenced to jail terms for their involvement in protests in December against his re-election. He plans to release all opposition activists by the beginning of October to improve relations with western countries. According to Reuters, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov received this message from Lukashenka during his discrete visit to Minsk. Altogether, 24 political prisoners have been released for the moment. Moreover, the Belarusian authorities decided to stop criminal prosecution of the former presidential candidates Ruhor Kastusiou and Ales Mihalevich, the editorin-chief of the opposition web-site harter’97,Natallia Radzina, chairman of the United Civic Party Anatol Liabedzka and some other activists. At the same time, about ten people including three presidential hopefuls and the human rights defender Ales Bialiatski remain in jail.