(NewsWorthy.news.com) – Belarusian authorities have released the leader of the authoritarian nation’s opposition party, who has been in jail for two years, following the government’s decision to release a number of political prisoners. United Civic Party leader Mikalai Kazlou was serving a two-and-a-half year sentence for allegedly organizing actions that would breach public order. The United Civic Party was banned by the Belarusian Supreme Court a year after Kazlou was arrested.
The opposition leader was arrested during a heavy crackdown on political opposition in the country, which began with mass demonstrations against President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime. The protests were ignited by the 2020 election that saw Lukashenko sworn in for a sixth term. The results of the election were disputed by critics. Other opposition leaders who were either jailed or forced to flee the country include Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who was the main rival to Lukashenko in the election.
Lukashenko, who famously declared in 2012 that being a dictator was better than being gay, is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Though the country has refrained from getting directly involved in the war in Ukraine, Lukashenko warned in April 2024 that there was a risk of incidents on the Belarus-Ukraine border. He also claimed that there would be an “apocalypse” if western provocation forced Russia to deploy nuclear weapons.
Lukashenko announced earlier in July that some gravely ill political prisoners would be granted amnesty, and his government has released 19 prisoners since the announcement. A total of 1,377 political prisoners remain incarcerated, however, according to human rights organization Viasna.
The founder of the Viasna, Ales Bialiatski, is among the prisoners. Bialiatski is also a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and a UN panel pleaded with the Belarusian regime to free the activist when the release of some prisoners was announced. Over 35,000 people were detained in the original clampdown on the protests, many of whom were beaten by Belarusian law enforcement.
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