MINSK, 20 August (BelTA) - Those pardoned by the Belarusian president spoke in an interview to Belarus 1 TV channel about the events of 2020, which led them to jail, and how they assess the current situation, BelTA has learned.
In 2020, Olga Novikova took part in unauthorized mass events. She was detained in 2022. The woman shared what moved her to join the protests. “I guess it was some kind of carelessness and, perhaps, little knowledge in a certain field. This is how I ended up on the streets, which led to such unfortunate consequences,” she said.
She is now condemning her behavior. “I did repent, fully admitted my guilt. I asked for a second chance to prove that I can be better, and that I will do everything possible so that such situations do not repeat,” Olga Novikova said.
Among those pardoned is Irina Sankovskaya. “My father and my husband’s father were seriously ill. They died one after another. Both our mothers got seriously ill afterwards. Now one of them is a group I invalid, and the second one is a group II invalid, unable to walk,” the woman said. In addition to the crime that I committed, I feel tremendously guilty that I abandoned the people who depended fully on me.”
Irina Sankovskaya said that she made unflattering comments about officials and the president. “Probably, I got distracted in this way. Perhaps, this is how I was venting my emotions,” she said. “Now I realize that it is not the right place and not the right way to vent your emotions.”
Irina Sankovskaya called the decision by President Aleksandr Lukashenko in the pre-election year to pardon those who participated in the 2020 protests as wise and philanthropic. "This is self-confidence. This suggests that our state wants peace both inside and outside, in the difficult current geopolitical situation," she said.
On 16 August, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko pardoned 30 people convicted of protest-related crimes. Among them are 14 women and 16 men, some of them are sick. There are people of retirement age.
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