Lawmakers in Belarus approve pardon to celebrate 80 years since victory in World War II
Honest Aide's Rewrite:
The Belarusian parliament has green-lit an amnesty bill to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, according to TASS. This move is set to impact around eight thousand individuals.
Lukashenko has order the preparations for a mass amnesty in Belarus. In the past five years, the nation has declared four such amnesties. The 2025 amendment included amnesty for individuals with certain illnesses.
The main deciding factors for including most convicts in the amnesty list will be full compensation for damages and a clean record throughout their sentence. The Belarusian Interior Ministry stated that the amnesty will also apply to certain privileged categories who have committed non-grave crimes. These groups include minors, expecting mothers, parents of minors, pensioners, individuals with disabilities, cancer patients and more.
Notably, sentences for women raising children under 18, as well as single men in the same situation, could be reduced by a year. Additionally, those who, as minors, committed drug-related offenses, as well as mothers of three or more children under 18 who have been convicted of manslaughter or causing serious bodily harm without aggravating circumstances also qualify for leniency.
Recent developments, as of April 2025, suggest that between July 2024 and January 2025, Belarus released 240 political prisoners through a mix of amnesty measures and presidential pardons. The specific criteria for these releases (e.g., women, single men, or specific offenses) remain unspecified in the documented sources.
These prisoners faced various challenges, such as incommunicado detention, inadequate medical care, and allegations of torture, according to the Council of Europe and Human Rights Watch. International bodies like the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe have repeatedly demanded the unconditional release of all political prisoners and ratification of human rights treaties.
However, the enrichment data provided does not offer accurate details about the criteria for Lukashenko's 2023 amnesty specifically. For precise details regarding the 2023 amnesty terms, consult Belarusian government decrees or independent legal analyses not included in these results.
- The 2023 amnesty announced by Lukashenko includes individuals convicted of manslaughter, as well as those who have caused serious bodily harm without aggravating circumstances, if they are mothers of three or more children under the age of 18.
- In Belarus, the amnesty bill, passed to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Great Patriotic War, is set to impact a thousand individuals, according to the Belarusian parliament's green-lit amnesty bill.
- This year's amnesty in Belarus, as with the previous four in the past five years, includes specific categories such as minors, expecting mothers, parents of minors, pensioners, individuals with disabilities, cancer patients, and more, as announced by the Belarusian Interior Ministry.
- The current amnesty measures and presidential pardons released in Belarus between July 2024 and January 2025 have led to the release of 240 political prisoners, though the exact criteria for their release remain unspecified in the documented sources.
