Status: 03/03/2023 11:46 a.m
In Minsk, Nobel Peace Prize winner Byalyatski has been sentenced to ten years in prison. The official charge against the human rights activist is “smuggling and financing public unrest”.
The imprisoned Belarusian Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialjazki has been sentenced to ten years in prison. The 60-year-old was found guilty of “organized smuggling and the financing of public unrest,” the state news agency Belta said. The prosecution had asked for twelve years in prison.
Byalyatski has been in custody since July 2021. He had previously served several years in prison.
Last year, the civil rights activist was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, which he was unable to accept himself. He received the award together with the Russian organization “Memorial” and the Ukrainian human rights organization “Centre for Civil Liberties”. The Belarusian leadership had criticized the award as a “politicized decision”.
Byalyatsky founded the human rights organization Vyazna
Incumbent Alexander Lukashenko was declared the winner in the 2020 presidential elections. The election was not recognized internationally. Mass protests broke out in the country, which the authorities used violence to put down.
The human rights organization Vyazna, founded by Byaljazki in 1996, registered 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. The organization was classified as a “criminal group”.
After house searches, the head of Byalyatsky and other employees of Vyazna were arrested in July 2021. First, the doctor of literature was arrested for alleged tax evasion. The charges were later changed.
In addition to Byalyatski, three Belarusian employees of Vyazna were sentenced to long prison terms, one of them in absentia.