Belarus pardons 13 more political prisoners in bid for US sanctions relief

The government said 13 political prisoners were pardoned on Thursday. Last week, 25 political prisoners were released after the US agreed to lift sanctions against two Belarusian companies.

The United States said on Monday that it was “working on a comprehensive agreement” involving the purchase of potassium carbonate from Belarus.

Belarus has more than 800 political prisoners, according to the Belarusian human rights organisation Viasna. Many of them were arrested during mass opposition demonstrations against President Alexander Lukashenko's disputed re-election in 2020.

Belarus has been releasing political prisoners at regular intervals over the past year. At the end of last year, opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova and Nobel laureate Ales Byalyatski were released.