Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said he is ready to pardon jailed former presidential candidates Andrei Sannikov and Nikolai Statkevich if they request it.
Sannikov and Statkevich were two of seven presidential candidates detained at a rally last year after Lukashenko won a fourth term. Both men received lengthy sentences.
“I can pardon a man if he asks me,” Lukashenko said on Friday. “If they don’t they will remain in jail.”
Hundreds of people were beaten and detained at the protest last December.
Western powers condemned the post-election crackdown and imposed sanctions on Lukashenko.
Lukashenko - president of the former Soviet republic since 1994 - has released a number of protesters over the past year but many remain in jail.
