The verdict for Ales Bialiatski is another outrageous decision of the Belarusian court recently. Poland strongly opposes politically motivated trials and calls for the release of those wrongly convicted, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Friday.
Judgment for constancy
The Prime Minister wrote on Facebook that “Ales Bialiatski, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison by the government court in Minsk.”
The authorities have repeatedly tried to silence him, but Byalyatski does not budge an inch in his fight for human rights and democracy in Belarus.
Morawiecki emphasized.
On Friday, a court in Minsk sentenced Byalyatski to 10 years in prison in the final political trial against Viasna activists. The center “Wiasna” informed about the verdict of Judge Maryna Zapaśnik. Belarusian authorities initially accused Viasna’s activists of “non-payment of taxes”. The charges were later changed to “contraband” and “protest financing”. The activists were detained on July 14, 2021 and have been behind bars ever since.
“Poland strongly opposes politically motivated trials”
Today’s verdict is another scandalous decision by the Belarusian court recently
— wrote the prime minister, pointing out that “Poland firmly opposes politically motivated trials and calls for the release of those wrongly convicted.”
Morawiecki also recalled that, apart from Bialacki, “two other human rights defenders, leaders of the Belarusian Center for Human Rights +Spring+ – Walentyn Stefanowicz and Uładzimir Łabkowicz – were sentenced to 9 and 7 years.”
The trial of Bialiatski and his companions
The process started in January this year. February 9th. The prosecutor demanded 12 years in prison for Bialacki, the maximum sentence. He also asked for 11 years for Stefanowicz and nine years for Łabkowicz. Another Viasna activist, Zmicier Sałaujou, who managed to escape from Belarus, was tried in absentia. The prosecutor demanded 10 years in prison for him. In addition, the prosecutor has demanded fines for each of the activists in the amount of PLN 185,000. rubles (more than USD 73.2 thousand).
The file consisted of 283 volumes of 300 pages each; this is a record in the political trial of Wiasna activists, which also saw around 100 witnesses named and 120 house searches carried out across the country, independent media reported.
Bialacki, now 60, founded the Center for the Defense of Human Rights +Viasna+ in 1996. The organization was banned in 2003 by Alyaksandr Lukashenko’s regime, but has never ceased its activities. On the wave of repression following the 2010 Belarus post-election protests, Bialiatski was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison for allegedly failing to pay taxes. He was released under amnesty in 2014.
In 2021, he was arrested on trumped-up charges. Initially, the authorities charged him with “non-payment of taxes”. The charges were later changed to “contraband” and “protest financing”.
In 2022, Bialiatski was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with the Russian organization investigating Stalinist crimes, the Memorial Association and the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties.
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rm/PAP
Source: wPolityce