Belarus has pardoned 25 prisoners as part of an ongoing drive to improve relations with the United States.

President Alexander Lukashenko’s office announced the decision on Tuesday, less than a week after Minsk freed dozens of prisoners following an appeal by US President Donald Trump to release hundreds said to have been prosecuted on politically motivated charges.

State news outlet BelTA reported that 12 women and 13 men were pardoned, without identifying any by name. At least some of those pardoned were political prisoners, according to the Viasna human rights group.

Rights groups say that more than 1,000 political prisoners are behind bars, detained as part of a brutal crackdown on protests over the 2020 election that saw Lukashenko returned to power for a sixth term. The presid

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