What kind of 196 political prisoners are these, whose release was announced by propagandists?

Illustrative photo. Photo: Intex-press

Unlike independent society, the security forces have accurate lists of repressed Belarusians. Human rights defenders, however, gather information bit by bit – about those arrested, the nature of the charges, the sentences, and the fact of a person's release. Some information arrives immediately, some after months or even years. If the term a political prisoner received is unknown and neither they nor any of their neighbors or relatives have reported their release, then the person must remain on the list of political prisoners. This is the only correct strategy.

Naturally, over six years of repression, a certain number of those who have already been released but are mistakenly still in the database have accumulated. Some were released after serving their term, some by pardon (as lists of pardoned individuals are also usually not published).

In April 2026, "Viasna" conducted an inventory of the list, as a result of which about 100 people received the status of "former political prisoner". Accordingly, the number of political prisoners significantly decreased then.

It is effectively about the authorities having now conducted another inventory of the "Viasna" list. It is claimed that it should decrease by 196 people. But is that really the case?

Some names of people who are still mistakenly considered political prisoners were mentioned on ONT; interviews were recorded with some of them, and several names could be seen on papers shown by Ihar Tur in the frame. There is no reason not to believe these papers – these are police excerpts with release dates and information on registration.

Thus, a total of 13 political prisoners were mentioned in the report.

Seven of them are currently still marked on "Viasna"'s website as political prisoners. These are: Alena Rybak, Uladzislau Fiedarovich, Vadzim Saskavets, Tatsiana Trafimchyk, Valiantsin Samasiuk, Andrei Krasnik, Aliaksandr Syrytsa, Siarhei Safronau.

In addition, ONT reported the earlier release of six more people, but they were already marked by "Viasna" as former political prisoners. These are: Dzmitry Siuko, Uladzimir Chmurau, Mikhail Razuvanau, Aleh Kekukh, Aliaksandr Pimashenka.

It turns out that at least these six are among the 196 individuals from ONT, but "Viasna" does not consider them current political prisoners.

Thus, the list of "Viasna"'s political prisoners should decrease, but still not by 196 people, but by a smaller number. Accuracy can only be achieved if the state publishes this list of 196 people, and human rights defenders can cross-reference it with their database.

However, it should be remembered that the list of political prisoners is incomplete. It lacks dozens (or perhaps hundreds) of people who are in pre-trial detention awaiting trial and about whom there is currently no information.

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