MINSK, 12 February (BelTA) – Belarus has never had any political prisoners, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said taking stock of the results of the 6th Belarusian People's Congress in Minsk on 12 February, BelTA has learned.
A proposal to carry out a political amnesty was put forward at the forum. The head of state responded to that: “I have already answered this question to journalists. If they show me at least one political article in the Criminal Code and say that someone is convicted on the basis of this article, we will think about what decisions to make. We have not had any political prisoners here,” he stressed.
Aleksandr Lukashenko mentioned Yuri Voskresensky, director of the Roundtable of Democratic Forces think tank, who also spoke at the Belarusian People's Congress. “Listen, this person was with them. Do not think that he is now going along with the authorities - no, he is his own man. When I visited the pre-trial detention center I reminded everyone that this person was a member of the City Council of Deputies before he decided to go rogue, for which I blamed myself and officials. Why did we let him go astray? It is our fault that we do not see intelligent people whom we should support. If we overlook such people, they will be spotted by others. And again: what crime did he commit? Yes, he minced no words saying that they ventured into the election to fight for power, but later went off the rails. I am okay with that, they distributed the future seats and the leader said: if we win, you will hold this or that office. They turned out to be corrupt and he went to jail together with everyone. In the course of the investigation the law enforcement and I saw that there were people who should not be in jail. He and others were released and started working,” the president said.
“Some asked me a question: When will we be released? I said: guys, return everything you stole. They lowered their heads, kept silent, then discussed this matter with family members. However, they have not returned it yet, though they should. When they do, we will consider some kind of amnesty, by no means political one. There is no blood lust here. If you stole something, you should return it if you were taken with the mainour. I want it to be clear,” the Belarusian leader emphasized.
