There have been many headlines about political prisoners being released from Belarusian prisons in the past year. One of those released last year was Svetlana Tikhanovskaya's husband, opposition politician Sergei Tikhanovsky, after five years in prison.
But the releases are not a sign of a change in the Lukashenko regime's agenda, says Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, visiting Sweden. The president is trying to pull the wool over people's eyes to get democratic countries to revise their policies, she says.
For every ten people released, twenty new ones are arrested. The number of political prisoners is not decreasing in the long term, it is increasing step by step.
Pressure on relatives
Today, the regime is increasingly trying to put pressure on the relatives of the prisoners, she says.
They are being threatened not to provide information to human rights defenders. And we are receiving reports that people are being deprived of their liberty every day and that repression is taking new forms.
For those who have been released from prison, life is not easy in Belarus, she says.
It doesn't resemble the lives of free people. They can't get jobs, they can't have SIM cards or bank accounts. It's not like being in prison physically, but the living conditions are unbearable.
Hundreds of prisoners have been released following efforts by the United States, which has eased sanctions against Belarus in exchange for their releases.
High treason
Active resistance in Belarus today is dangerous. Speaking Belarusian, shouting "no to war" or displaying a European flag can lead to many years in prison, says Tikhanovskaya. But there are those who - despite great risks - collaborate with the opposition in exile, a work that often goes on in secret.
People see that there is a chance for Belarus and that we are working effectively, so they try to help us with information. It is dangerous - even small pieces of information can be classified as high treason and carry a 20-25 year prison sentence or the death penalty.
Today, many hundreds of political prisoners are imprisoned in Belarus.
Don't just read the headline "Lukashenko releases prisoners." Read more: he is arresting twice as many people; repression is intensifying, and cross-border persecution is increasing. Don't be fooled by Lukashenko's actions.
Belarus is barely half the size of Sweden. The area of 207,600 square kilometers makes the country the 13th largest in Europe. The population is slightly smaller than Sweden's, at 9.1 million.
A century ago, Belarus became part of the Soviet Union, and even after independence in the early 1990s, the country has remained closely tied to its powerful neighbour, Russia.
The country is ruled by the authoritarian Alexander Lukashenko. He won the presidential election in 1994 and has since consolidated his power over the years, earning him the nickname "Europe’s last dictator."
When Russia began its attempt to invade all of Ukraine at the beginning of last year, its forces also launched from Belarus, which has a long border with Ukraine.
Belarus continues to play an important supporting role in the Russian war effort, and Western sanctions have also included Belarus.
