Belarus has pardoned 25 prisoners as part of an ongoing drive to improve relations with the United States.
President Alexander Lukashenko’s office announced the decision on Tuesday, less than a week after Minsk freed dozens of prisoners following an appeal by U.S. President Donald Trump to release hundreds said to have been prosecuted on politically motivated charges.
At least some of those pardoned were political prisoners, according to the Viasna human rights group.
Rights groups say that more than 1,000 political prisoners are behind bars, detained as part of a brutal crackdown on protests over the 2020 election that saw Lukashenko returned to power for a sixth term. The president was re-elected for a seventh term this year.
Trump has been pushing for their release, reportedly lifting sanctions on the Belarusian state airline. U.S. envoy John Coale recently said Washington wanted to reopen its embassy in Minsk, indicating a possible thaw in relations between the two countries.
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