Nobel Peace Prize winner sentenced to 10 years in prison

A court in Belarus has sentenced Nobel laureate and civil rights activist Ales Byaljazki to 10 years in prison. Byalyatski has been found guilty of organized smuggling and financing public unrest, state news agency Belta said on Friday.

The public prosecutor had even demanded twelve years in prison. In addition to the 60-year-old, three other Belarusian civil rights activists were sentenced to long prison terms, one of them in absentia.

Incumbent Alexander Lukashenko was declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election. The election was not recognized internationally. Mass protests broke out in the country, which the authorities violently crushed. The center “Vyazna”, founded by Byaljazki in 1996, recorded numerous cases of torture and other human rights violations by the police. It helped protesters find and pay lawyers.

As a result, “Vyazna” was also targeted by the authorities. In July 2021, the head of Byalyatsky and other employees of the Human Rights Center were arrested after house searches. Byalyatski was also unable to receive the Nobel Prize awarded to him in 2022. First, the doctor of literature was arrested for alleged tax evasion. The charges were later changed. Internationally, Byalyatski is considered a political prisoner. (sda)