Belarus freed 13 political prisoners to date: Bulgaria

(SOFIA) - Belarus has freed 13 political prisoners in the past month as a first step to a larger pledge by President Alexander Lukashenko to release all those arrested by October, Bulgaria said Friday.

"To date, 13 prisoners have been released after their cases were discontinued," Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov told journalists.

"On August 26, Mr. Lukashenko made the commitment to free all those arrested by the beginning of October, and to stop the court cases against all those accused for the riots during last year's presidential elections."

"Several days later he also announced his initiative for national dialogue," Mladenov said.

The Bulgarian minister met discreetly with Lukashenko on August 26 in Minsk, where the Belarussian president made his pledges to release all political prisoners.

Mladenov then informed his EU colleagues of these commitments ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Sopot, Poland, on Friday and Saturday, which was due to discuss the situation in Belarus.

"It is extremely important for everyone in Europe, in Belarus and the EU neighbouring countries to establish a real dialogue, real reforms and real cooperation between the government and the opposition in order to achieve a real democratisation of the country," Mladenov said before leaving for the Sopot talks.

Authorities in Belarus jailed several dozen activists and leading political figures in the wake of an anti-government protests following Lukashenko's contested re-election in December, although a small number have already been released under an amnesty.