Belarus has refused UN and European Union entreaties to release Alexander Kozulin, a jailed opposition leader.
Kozulin, seen as a political prisoner by the West, was put behind bars for five and a half years for organising rallies against the 2006 election of the country's president.
He was briefly allowed out to attend his wife's funeral.
However, the government insists that he continues his detention.
On Monday, Vladimir Naumov, Belarus's interior minister, said there was "no reason" to release Kozulin, who returned to prison last week after the funeral.
Both the US and the EU have called for his definitive release.
Naumov told a news conference: "Amnesties apply to people who receive no disciplinary reprimands while serving their term. Kozulin has had four."
"There is, therefore, no reason to apply for an amnesty. If someone comes up with a proposal for a release with proper grounds or support, we will carry it out."
Temporary release
Kozulin was given three days' compassionate leave to attend the funeral of Irina.
He was on hunger strike while awaiting a decision on whether he could attend the ceremony. On returning to prison he abandoned plans to stage a further hunger strike to secure his final release.
In 2006, he refused food for 53 days to draw attention to human rights violations in Belarus.
Alexander Lukashenko, the president, has called for better relations with the West since quarrelling with Russia last year over energy prices.
Western countries demand in turn improvements in democratic standards, including the release of "political prisoners".
Several opposition activists have been freed recently, but Lukashenko said that the issue for Kozulin had been closed after he and his wife refused the chance to travel to Germany for cancer treatment.
The couple said the departure would amount to going into exile.
Lukashenko, who remains broadly popular, says his stand on dissent and provision of generous benefits have shielded Belarus's 10 million people from the upheavals of other ex-Soviet states.
Kozulin, who ran for president in 2006, was arrested on the last of four days of mass rallies denouncing Lukashenko's re-election after urging protesters to march to a prison where activists were being held.