https://thehill.com/policy/international/3883896-nobel-peace-prize-winner-sentenced-to-10-years-in-prison-by-belarusian-court/A Nobel Peace Prize winner was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in Belarus on Friday for what the human rights organization he leads is calling politically motivated charges.
A statement from the Viasna Human Rights Center, a human rights organization based in the capital Minsk, says Ales Bialiatski was sentenced to a decade in prison. Bialiatski serves as the chair of the organization and won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for his efforts as a human rights activist.
Three other human rights advocates were also sentenced to extensive prison terms. They are Viasna board member Valiantsin Stefanovic, who was sentenced to nine years in prison; campaign coordinator for Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections Uladzimir Labkovich, who was sentenced to seven years in prison; and Viasna member Zmitser Salauyou, who was tried in absentia and sentenced to eight years in prison.
A Belarusian court found them guilty of “training or other preparation of people to participate in group actions grossly violating the public order and financing or other material support of such activities” and of smuggling, described as the “illegal movement of cash across the customs border of the Eurasian Economic Union on a large scale by an organized group.”
The court also fined them the equivalent of tens of thousands of dollars each in Belarusian rubles, according to the statement.
