Will political prisoners have a chance to be released soon?

Considering that the parliament was expected to review a bill on amnesty in 2014, hypothetically the bill can be applied to Belarusan political prisoners.

Let us recall that earlier “EuroBelarus” Information Service has reported that Aliaksandr Lukashenka sent an amnesty bill to the House of Representatives, though the national legal portal has not yet published the document.

The press service of Lukashenka said that this year’s amnesty would not apply to persons who have committed grave crimes and did not fulfilled the conditions stipulated by the draft law for exemption from criminal liability and punishment.

Valiantsin Stefanovich, a human rights defender and Deputy Chairman of the Human Rights Center “Viasna”, says that the previous laws on amnesty treated this as a violation of the correctional facility’s rules, and uncompensated debts to the state. Most of the political prisoners were convicted of serious crimes, so Eduard Lobau and the anarchists are unlikely to be pardoned this year. Andrei Haidukou’s term expires on May 8.

Theoretically, the amnesty can be applied to Vasil Parfiankou, who has not yet received the status of an offender. Meanwhile, Ales Bialiatski has this status, and amnesty could not be applied to him in 2012.

“On the other hand, it is the administration of the colony that imposes penalties on prisoners. And it may at any time cancel them. Therefore, if there is political will of the country’s leader to release Ales Bialiatski, amnesty can be applied to him,” “Viasna” reports Stefanovich’s words.

Natallya Pinchuk, the wife of imprisoned human rights defender Ales Bialiatski, does not lay any hopes on the amnesty: “I do not care about all these talks about the amnesty. Why? I have already heard them many times.  If you get anxious and expect something every time, you may exhaust yourself”, - Euroradio quotes her saying.

Though Aliaksandr Lukashenka ordered head of the President’s Administration Aliaksandr Radzkou to study Byalyatski’s case three months ago, nothing has changed since then, Natalyya Pinchuk says.

Let us also recall that in March Lukashenka announced that he won’t pardon political prisoners unless they write an appeal to his name.