Belarus's Lukashenko pardons 37 people jailed for 'extremism'

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko on Monday signed a decree pardoning 37 people convicted of crimes related to "extremism", state news agency Belta reported.

The announcement, on the eve of a national holiday, raises to 115 the total number of people in prison for opposition activity that Lukashenko has pardoned since the start of July.

Belta cited Lukashenko's press service as saying that among those to be freed were six women, along with unspecified numbers of pensioners, disabled people and those suffering from chronic illnesses. It did not give their names.

Lukashenko has been increasingly dependent on Russia since 2020, when support from President Vladimir Putin helped him cling to power in the face of mass pro-democracy protests. Some analysts see the prisoner releases as a bid by the veteran leader to start repairing ties with the West and avoid the prospect of Belarus being fully absorbed into Russia.

Human rights groups, Western diplomats and the exiled Belarus opposition have so far said that the releases are welcome but do not amount to a genuine change of policy. They say that some 1,400 political prisoners are still behind bars in Belarus.

Lukashenko denies there are political prisoners in Belarus, where he has ruled since 1994. Last week, before the latest set of releases, he said those previously freed included people who were sick or "crazy", and they would be under the supervision of law enforcement agencies.

Lukashenko used the full force of his security apparatus to crush protests that broke out in August 2020 when he was declared winner of an election that the opposition and Western governments accused him of stealing. Thousands of people were arrested.

Among the best known protest leaders is Maria Kalesnikava, whose family say they fear she is starving in a penal colony because she has a perforated stomach ulcer and cannot tolerate prison food. They have not been able to write or receive letters from her since February last year.

Others serving long sentences include Ales Bialiatski, a human rights campaigner and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and Syarhey Tsikhanouski, whose wife Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is leader of the exiled Belarus opposition.

(Writing by Mark Trevelyan and Felix Light; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge)