International Desk: A Belarusian court has sentenced top human rights advocate and Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski to 10 years in prison.

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The Viasna human rights group said he was convicted of smuggling and financing "actions grossly violating public order."

Prosecutors had asked the Minsk court to give Bialiatski, who denied the charges, a 12-year sentence.

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Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said Bialiatski and other activists sentenced in the same trial had been unfairly convicted, calling the verdict “appalling”.

Mr Bialiatski was one of three winners of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize.

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Bialiatski is one of the most prominent of hundreds of Belarusians who were jailed during a crackdown on anti-government protests that erupted after longtime leader Alexander Lukashenko was declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election and continued into 2021.

The charges against Bialiatski and his colleagues, who were arrested in 2021, were also connected to Viasna’s provision of money to political prisoners and help towards their legal fees.

Sun News/MR

Belarusian sentence human Nobel Peace Prize winner prison

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