March 6, Pozirk. John Coale, the United States special envoy for Belarus, thanked Alaksandar Łukašenka for pardoning another group of Belarusian dissidents in a post on X yesterday, following reports of the release of 18 people in Belarus.
“This is another important step in relations between the US and Belarus, as President Trump has instructed me to release all political prisoners,” Coale said.
Yesterday, the Belarusian ruler granted pardon to 18 convicted individuals, including 15 people charged with extremism-related offences, routinely used in Belarus to persecute opposition supporters. Eleven of those pardoned are reportedly women, and six of them have children, including children with disabilities who require constant medical rehabilitation.
Łukašenka has pardoned political prisoners on a regular basis since July 2024. Since then, he has issued at least 13 edicts granting pardon to around 350 individuals imprisoned on politically-motivated charges.
On September 11 and December 13, 2025, he released 51 and 123 political prisoners, respectively, as a result of talks with Coale. Łukašenka’s state security agencies bussed all the convicts out of Belarus.
However, the overall number of designated political prisoners in Belarus does not change considerably, averaging 1,150 for many months, proving that the government continues to persecute Łukašenka’s opponents.
Belarus’ security agencies also label more and more opposition and civil society organizations as “extremist” groups, broadening the scale of political reprisals.
As of March 6, human rights defenders identified at least 1,140 political prisoners, but the real number is considerably higher because many cases go undocumented.
