Belarus on Friday handed a 10-year jail term to Nobel Prize winning activist Ales Bialiatski, drawing immediate condemnation internationally. Bialiatski, who founded the authoritarian nation’s most prominent right group, has repeatedly run into trouble with security forces in Belarus, which is often described as “Europe‘s last dictatorship”.
He was in the dock with two allies after they were jailed in the aftermath of historic demonstrations against the disputed re-election of Belarus strongman President Alexander Lukashenko in 2020. The 60-year-old and his associates had been convicted of smuggling and financing “activities that grossly violate public order”, said the Viasna (Spring) rights group founded by Bialiatski. Bialiatski was on Friday handed a 10-year sentence, while co-defendants Valentin Stefanovich was given nine years in prison and Vladimir Labkovich was jailed for seven.
“These are very cruel sentences, for all of them,” Bialiatski’s wife Natalya Pinchuk said in comments released by Viasna. “The terms are horrific. Labkovich’s wife Nina said her family had not expected “a miracle. Still, this hurts very much. It’s not possible to accept this,” she added. Co-defendant Valentin Stefanovich’s wife Alina expressed hope that those who have persecuted the activists would one day be held to account.
“Spring will come,” she said, citing her husband. The defendants have said they were innocent of the charges. A fourth defendant, Dmitry Solovyov, who was tried in absentia, was sentenced to eight years.
The terms drew immediate condemnation, with the UN saying that “the arbitrary arrest and detention of Belarusian human rights defenders on politically motivated charges are alarming.”
Prosecutors in Belarus are seeking a 19-year jail term for the 40-year-old opposition politician, who claimed victory in the 2020 presidential election. Tikhanovskaya was part of a trio of women — along with Maria Kolesnikova and Veronika Tsepkalo — who spearheaded massive rallies against Lukashenko.
She ran for president in place of her husband, Sergei Tikhanovsky, a charismatic YouTube blogger who was arrested after galvanising the opposition and coining an insult for Lukashenko when he called him a “cockroach”. In 2021, he was found guilty of organising riots, inciting social hatred and other charges and sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Source: eNCA
In other news – Mohale Motaung is homeless and broke – Musa Khawula
Mohale is broke and hungry, says Musa Khawula. Controversial YouTuber, Musa Khawula drags Somizi Mhlongo’s former husband, Mohale Motaung.
Musa claimed the model tried to scam the media personality with the two years marriage which ended in a disaster. He further revealed that Mohale now dates politicians and his life has degraded. Learn more
