Minsk. In 2025–2026, open sources repeatedly reported mass pardons of people whom human rights groups classify as political prisoners. These events unfolded against the backdrop of Belarusian leadership’s foreign-policy contacts with the United States and a partial reassessment of Western sanctions, including in trade and transport.

Timeline (from media and monitoring reports)

In autumn 2025, a large group of prisoners was released under arrangements with Washington as described in the press. Some of those freed were taken to the state border to leave the country.

In December 2025, the authorities announced the pardon of another group — lists included, among others, figures from high-profile cases after the 2020 presidential election.

In spring 2026, media reported a new wave of pardons numbering on the order of several hundred people. Reports said some of those released remained in the country, while others left.

Legal and human rights assessment

A pardon does not quash the conviction and does not declare it unlawful. International and Belarusian independent rights defenders stress that repression of dissent continues: according to the Viasna Human Rights Centre, on certain dates in 2026 the political prisoner list still stood at roughly 1.1–1.2 thousand people. The organisation notes that the list is not exhaustive. Human Rights Watch and others link mass detentions and sentences after 2020 to restrictions on freedom of expression, assembly and association.

Bottom line

Mass exits from detention lower the headcount on political-prisoner lists, yet monitoring groups assess the scale of politically motivated criminal prosecution as still large. The foreign-policy context of the releases does not remove questions about conditions of detention, access to justice, and the fate of those still serving sentences.