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The Jerusalem Post

Belarus court sentences Nobel Peace Prize winner to 10 years in prison -TASS

 
 Human rights activist Ales Byalyatski, founder of the organisation Viasna (Belarus), receives the 2020 Right Livelihood Award at the digital award ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden December 3, 2020.  (photo credit: ANDERS WIKLUND/TT NEWS AGENCY/VIA REUTERS)
Human rights activist Ales Byalyatski, founder of the organisation Viasna (Belarus), receives the 2020 Right Livelihood Award at the digital award ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden December 3, 2020.
(photo credit: ANDERS WIKLUND/TT NEWS AGENCY/VIA REUTERS)

Byalyatski is a pro-democracy activist and founder of the Viasna human rights group which provided aid to Belarusian protesters in 2020.

A court in Belarus on Friday sentenced Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Byalyatski to 10 years in prison, Russian state-owned news agency TASS reported, a verdict likely to be strongly condemned by Western human rights groups. 

Byalyatski, a pro-democracy activist and founder of the Viasna human rights group which provided legal and financial help to protesters during a 2020 wave of unrest in Belarus, was convicted of financing protests and tax evasion. 

The Nobel Peace Prize 

He shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Russian rights group Memorial and Ukraine's Center for Civil Liberties in October and was arrested in 2021 along with two co-workers from Viasna.

He has said he is being persecuted for political reasons.

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 Natalia Pinchuk, representing her husband, Ales Byalyatski from Belarus and others representing Ukrainian and Russian rights groups, wave to the torch train from the balcony of the Grand Hotel in after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for 2022 in Oslo, Norway.  (credit: Annika Byrde/NTB/via REUTERS)
Natalia Pinchuk, representing her husband, Ales Byalyatski from Belarus and others representing Ukrainian and Russian rights groups, wave to the torch train from the balcony of the Grand Hotel in after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for 2022 in Oslo, Norway. (credit: Annika Byrde/NTB/via REUTERS)

Questionable trial conduct

Viasna said on Twitter that the judge had refused to conduct the trial in Belarusian instead of Russian, and rejected Byalyatski's request for a translator. It also did not consider a request to remove the handcuffs.

"The allegations against our colleagues are linked to their human rights activity, the Viasna human rights center's provision of help to the victims of politically motivated persecution," the group said of the case.

Rights groups say there are around 1,500 political prisoners in Belarus, with many having been arrested since the suppression of the 2020 protests which erupted after veteran leader Alexander Lukashenko declared he had been re-elected in polls the West and the Belarusian opposition said were fraudulent.

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