Dhe Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Byaljazki has been sentenced to ten years in prison in Belarus. The 60-year-old Byalyatski was found guilty on Friday in Minsk of alleged financial crimes, as the civil rights organization Vyazna, which he co-founded, and the Russian state news agency Tass announced on Friday. Byaljazki rejects the allegations and describes them as politically motivated. “There was no fair trial,” he said in his closing remarks in February.
Three defendants who also worked for the organization were sentenced to nine, eight and seven years in prison. Byalyatski has been in prison since July 2021 and had previously served several years in prison. Last year he was honored with the Nobel Prize for his fight against human rights violations and abuse of power in Belarus. However, he was unable to accept the award in Oslo in December.
The human rights organization Vyazna was founded by Byalyatsky in 1996, and he is its chairman to this day. The organization keeps records of the actions of the Belarusian authorities against democracy activists.