Alyaksandr Lukashenka has pardoned six prisoners - Mikalai Dzyadok, Ihar Alinevich, Mikalai Statkevich, Yauhen Vaskovich, Artsiom Prakapenka and Yury Rubtsou, BELTA reports with reference to the Presidential Administration. It is noted that the decision to pardon them is guided by "principles of humanity".
Mikola Statkevich was a presidential candidate in 2010 and was sentenced to six years in prison for allegedly organizing mass riots on Independence Square. Out of the six years of the sentence, he spent in prison four and a half years.
Mikalai Dzyadok, Yauhen Vaskovich, Ihar Alinevich and Artsiom Prakapenka were defendants in the so-called "case of anarchists" and were sentenced to various terms In prison
Yury Rubtsou was detained after the Charnobylski Shlyakh 2014 for wearing a t-shirt with inscription "Lukashenka, go away." He received a year and a half in prison.
The topic of the release of political prisoners was raised during an interview to Euroradio and other non-state media. Mr Lukashenka then spoke about the possibility of releasing Mr Statkevich prior to the election. During the interview, he became interested in the fate of Mr Rubtsou.
Statkevich's wife Maryna Adamovich told Euroradio that she does not know about the time of release yet, since she has not received a call from Mikalai.
