Fifty Nobel laureates have signed an open letter calling on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to release more political prisoners, Reuters reported, citing BTA.
Earlier, the Belarusian group for the protection of human rights “Vyasna“ reported that 18 political prisoners were released at the beginning of this month.
The appeal was signed by three winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature, including the Belarusian writer Svetlana Aleksievich, as well as by seven laureates for peace and 45 laureates in the fields of science and economics.
Despite the pardon of the 18 people, there are still about 1,400 people behind bars for political activity.
In 2020, Lukashenko carried out a crackdown to quell peaceful mass protests following elections that the opposition and Western governments say were heavily rigged.