Prosecutor requests lengthy prison terms for Viasna leaders

February 9, BPN. Prosecutor Alaksiej Karol has requested lengthy prison terms ranging from nine to twelve years, for Aleś Bialacki and his associates from the Viasna Human Rights Center, spring96.org reported.

He demanded 12 years in prison for Viasna leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Bialacki; 11 years for Valancin Stefanovič, his deputy and vice-president of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH); nine years for Uładzimir Łabkovič, coordinator of the Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections campaign; and 10 years for Źmicier Sałaŭjoŭ, who has fled the country and is being tried in absentia.

The charges of smuggling cash across the border and financing protests have been fully proven in court, the prosecutor claimed.

Viasna’s leaders have been in custody since July 2021.

In October 2022, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Bialacki, Russia’s Memorial and Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties.