Following another round of negotiations between Donald Trump's special envoy John Coale and Alyaksandr Lukashenka, 25 political prisoners were released on September 16. However, it would be a mistake to view this as a sign of real change or "warming" in Belarus. According to human rights activists in an interview with Belsat, repression in Belarus is not solely determined by the number of political prisoners; it has become a systemic issue that affects all areas of public life.