Argentina's Milei doubles down on Lula criticism as war of words heats

3/7/2024 11:31

        Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday that he was likely to issue an amnesty to some of his jailed political opponents who had taken part in protests against his re-election but were now seriously ill in prison with cancer.
        
        Lukashenko, in power since 1994, is one of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin's closest allies and stands accused by his opponents and Western rights groups of human rights abuses and jailing opponents on a variety of charges.
        
        His re-election to a sixth term in 2020 sparked unprecedented street protests by demonstrators accusing him of rigging the vote. Police detained participants en masse - rights groups say more than 25,000 - in the months after the election.
        
        According to the official BelTA news agency, Lukashenko told a gathering marking Belarus' national holiday, "Don't be surprised if our people who are seriously ill -- that is what is being written about them -- are released in a few days."
        
        "Those who did not escape to places not that far away and who were smashing up or undermining the country in 2020. These people are truly ill, mostly with cancer."
        
        Lukashenko did not identify those who might qualify for the amnesty, timed to coincide with the holiday and the World War Two liberation of the capital Minsk from Nazi invaders.