Court upholds prison sentence against Nobel winner Bialacki

April 21, BPN. The Minsk City Court has upheld the prison sentence against Nobel Peace Prize winner and human rights activist Aleś Bialacki.

The Viasna center reports that Judge Śviatłana Bandarenka rejected his and his associates’ appeals against sentence.

Last month, a district court had sentenced the founder of Viasna to 10 years in prison.

It also sentenced his deputy Valancin Stefanovič, vice president of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), to nine years, and Uładzimir Łabkovič, coordinator of the Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections campaign, to seven years.

Źmicier Sałaŭjoŭ, an exiled human rights defender, was sentenced to eight years in absentia.

The judge also ordered the human rights defenders to pay over 1.2 million rubels (some $475,000) in fines and compensation for alleged smuggling.

Bialacki and his associates were tried for allegedly financing protests in Belarus and smuggling cash for their human rights work.

The EU, USA and UN Human Rights Office condemned the trial as unfair.

A state prosecutor appealed the wording of the ruling on Łabkovič. At today’s hearing, Bandarenka granted the request, without changing the prison term.