Belarus is on trial against Nobel laureate Byaljazki France supplies tanks, US wants them too – the nightly update without photos

The trial of Nobel Prize winner Ales Byalyatski for alleged tax evasion has begun in the former Soviet Republic of Belarus.

The indictment accuses Byalyatski and other employees of the human rights center “Vyazna” of evading the equivalent of more than 44,000 francs in taxes between 2013 and 2020, the Belarusian Association of Journalists BAJ, which is banned in Minsk, reported Thursday. The human rights activist faces a prison sentence of twelve years.

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 “Vyazna” center, founded by Byalyatsky in 1996, recorded numerous cases of torture and other human rights violations by the police and helped protesters find and pay lawyers.

As a result, «Vyazna» was also attacked by the authorities. After house searches, he was arrested in July 2021 as head and other staff of the human rights center. The 60-year-old was also unable to receive the Nobel Prize awarded to him in 2022. Byalyatski was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison in 2011 for similar charges, but was released in early 2014. Internationally, the literary scholar is seen as a political prisoner. (aeg/sda/dpa)