He is not alone. Other prominent political prisoners include Nikolai Avtukhovich, a veteran of the Soviet war in Afghanistan turned businessman, who declared war on local corruption — and went to jail, for the second time, when he took on the wrong people.

They include Nikolai Statkevich, also serving his second term, a former Army officer turned leader of the Social Democrats and Mr. Lukashenko’s most radical critic in the 2010 election. A recent addition to his cell is a former special commando and convicted murderer. Independent researchers believe this thug may have belonged to a death squad responsible for “disappearing” opposition members.

And they include Aleksandr Belyatski, an intellectual and human rights defender who has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by dozens of people around the world.

While they sit in prison, Mr. Lukashenko has steadily turned Belarus into something akin to a prison colony. The possibility of ending up in prison is a constant risk for millions, and a check on even their most mundane daily routines.

That is why Mr. Lukashenko had no problem releasing Mr. Sannikov, who wrote a statement requesting clemency, demanded by Mr. Lukashenko, which closes off the possibility of appeal. He could just as easily end up back there tomorrow.

The release of political prisoners does not constitute a sign of change. Instead, the degree of change can be measured by the amount of dignity restored to the people, starting with former political prisoners. These people must be rehabilitated, their records expunged, their lives returned to them. This is precisely what signaled irreversible changes in Eastern Europe during the cold war, starting with the debunking of Stalinism.

None of this will happen without Moscow’s approval, of course, or the end of Moscow’s influence. Mr. Lukashenko’s regime will receive more than $4 billion in oil and gas subsidies from Moscow in 2012. And for good reason: Belarus is the last vestige of Russia’s colonial influence westward. Former Communist bloc countries couldn’t gain their freedom until the Soviet Union collapsed. The failure of President Vladimir V. Putin’s model might be the only thing that could pave the way to a “Eurasian Spring.”

Yet there are people willing to sacrifice their lives in the hopeless quest for freedom in Mr. Putin’s icy shadow. If you want to understand why Mr. Belyatski, Mr. Statkevich and Mr. Avtukhovich are living heroes of our time, just try to imagine yourself in their shoes. That is to say, in their cells.