Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, who won the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize while in prison, was sentenced to 10 years in a penal colony as his country¡¯s authoritarian government continues a crackdown on opponents.
Two other members of the Bialiatski-led Viasna Human Rights center, Valiantsin Stefanovich and Uladzimir Labkovich, were sentenced to nine and seven years each, according to state-owned news agency Belta.
All three were convicted on charges of financing anti-government protests and ¡°smuggling cash¡± in an organized group. They have denied wrongdoing.
The United Nations called on Belarusian authorities in January to drop the charges and immediately release them. Germany¡¯s Foreign Ministry condemned the ¡°show trial¡± against Bialiatski and his colleagues and demanded the release of more than 1,400 political prisoners and a halt to the repression of civil society.
Bialiatski is the chairman of Viasna, a nongovernment organization that has tracked human rights violations in Belarus since 1996.
He was detained last year amid a sweep against opponents of President Alexander Lukashenko following his claims of a landslide victory in the 2020 election.
Bialiatski was the second Belarusian since the country¡¯s independence to receive a Nobel Prize after Svetlana Alexievich won for literature seven years ago. Bialiatski was awarded along with human rights advocates from Ukraine and Russia.
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