Belarus: Political activist gets 25 years in prison amid further crackdown on dissidents
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A foremost political activist in Belarus was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Monday for opposing strongman President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime in the newest step in the country’s brutal crackdown on political dissidents.
Mikalay Autukhovich was convicted on fees of “plotting a terror assault, large treason and conspiracy to seize electricity” — all classes extra to the country’s penal code by Lukashenko immediately after the 2020 significant-scale protests towards him and his federal government, sparked by allegations of serious election-rigging.
Together with Autukhovich, 11 other activists in Belarus were sentenced to prison phrases of up to 20 many years.
Autukhovich, 59, is a previous army officer and a veteran of the Soviet war in Afghanistan. He assisted the regime’s rivals elevate funds for their initiatives to oppose Lukashenko, who has dominated the ex-Soviet nation for virtually 3 a long time.
It comes just 10 times soon after jailed Belarusian activist Ales Bialiatski was jointly awarded the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize for his function with the Viasna Human Legal rights Centre.
Belarus’ opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said Bialiatski’s accolade will assistance “appeal to much more awareness to the humanitarian circumstance” in the country.
Bialiatski was detained subsequent Lukashenko’s 2020 re-election. Tsikhanouskaya has been in exile considering the fact that.
A near ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Lukashenko has forcefully suppressed demonstrations and dissent sparked by his victory promises.
