Minsk: Belarus has begun a new round of pardons for political prisoners after talks between President Alexander Lukashenko and US special envoy John Coale, human rights group Viasna said on Wednesday.
Coale said the two sides had reached an interim agreement. He said Belarus would release 25 people and the United States would lift sanctions on two Belarusian companies.
Human rights group Viasna said the relatives of some prisoners had been told they could collect their loved ones from penal colonies on Wednesday morning.
The US opened talks last year with Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and has been easing sanctions on Belarus in return for the prisoner releases.
Viasna, which is banned in Belarus, says the former Soviet state still holds more than 900 political prisoners, even after Coale negotiated the release of hundreds since the middle of last year.
Among the most frequent charges against them are ‘extremist' activity, conspiring to seize power, incitement to hatred, or insulting the president.
At Tuesday's talks with Coale, Lukashenko denied the people in question were political prisoners and rejected assertions by rights groups and the exiled opposition that he is steadily arresting more people to replace those he releases.