Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko pardoned 15 prisoners on Friday in what state media called a humanitarian gesture, two days before an election in which he is set to extend his 31-year rule.

Belarus has more than 1,000 political prisoners, many of them detained during the mass protests that erupted after Lukashenko’s contentious re-election in 2020

Lukashenko, who has ruled the country since 1994, moved the election from August to January, reducing the likelihood of mass protests in freezing weather.