Opposition leader’s cousin gets six years in prison

September 20, BPN. A district court in Minsk has sentenced Anatol Łatuška to six years in prison, fining him 9,600 rubels, or some $3,800, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported.

Judge Dźmitryj Karsiuk found the cousin of high-profile opposition politician Pavieł Łatuška guilty of gross violations of public order, hooliganism and desecrating state symbols.

Law enforcers arrested Anatol Łatuška, Alena Malinoŭskaja and Lilija Ananian in January 2022 for allegedly drawing the Pahonia coat of arms on mailboxes.

Ananian pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years of restricted freedom without referral to an open-type correctional facility, a type of home confinement. Malinoŭskaja was sentenced to four years in prison.

Malinoŭskaja and Łatuška pleaded not guilty.

Human rights activists said the three were prosecuted for political reasons.