A court in Belarus sentenced Ales Bialiatski, co-winner of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize and a figure of the democratic movement in this former Soviet republic, to 10 years in prison this Friday. The organization for the defense of human rights Viasna specified that two other activists tried together with Bialiatski, -Valentin Stefanovich and Vladimir Labkovich- received sentences of nine and seven years in prison. All were also sentenced to pay a fine of $70,000.
The activists were jailed following demonstrations against the controversial 2020 re-election of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to a sixth term. Bialiatski, 60, and the other activists were charged with financing “activities that seriously violate public order.” Arrested in July 2021, Bialiatski was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize the following year for his defense of human rights, along with the Russian organization Memorial and the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties.
The award-giving committee reacted to the condemnation. “The process and the accusations against him are politically motivated”, Norwegian committee chair Berit Reiss-Andersen said in a statement on Friday. “It shows that the current regime resorts to any means to suppress its opponents,” she added. The veteran activist founded and directed Viasna, the main human rights group in this country, for several years. During the 2020 demonstrations, the NGO played a key role in documenting the repressive measures and arrests of protesters.
Bialiatski already spent almost three years in prison in Belarus between 2011 and 2014 after being convicted in another case denounced as political. As of March 1, Belarus held 1,461 political prisoners, according to Viasna. The regime continues to count on the support of Russia. In return, Belarus agreed to serve as a rear base for Russian troops in the conflict in Ukraine. Several imprisoned journalists from the Tut.by website, the main independent media outlet in Belarus, are also on trial.