{"id":180516,"date":"2026-03-22T21:22:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T18:22:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/180516\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T21:22:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T18:22:36","slug":"political-prisoner-count-drops-below-900-for-first-time-since-2022","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/180516\/","title":{"rendered":"Political prisoner count drops below 900 for first time since 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n (pixabay.com)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

March 22, Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> As of March 22, human rights defenders have identified at least 897 political prisoners in Belarus, with the number falling below 900 for the first time in more than four years, the Viasna Human Rights Center reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, politically-motivated persecution in the country has not stopped with new additions to the political prisoners’ list expected in the next few days, it noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unless authorities stop reprisals, the number of designated political prisoners will continue to rise, Viasna warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On March 19, Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka pardoned 250 regime critics following the recent round of talks with John Coale, US special envoy for Belarus. As many as 235 were allowed to stay in Belarus, while 15 were taken to Lithuania.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Politically-motivated persecution in Belarus continues unabated since the disputed 2020 presidential vote. Since then, a total of 4,457 people have been designated as political prisoners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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