WORLD – BELARUS
A Belarusian court has sentenced in absentia Belarusian opposition leader and former presidential candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya to 15 years in prison, the Belarusian state news agency Belta reported.
Another prominent opposition activist Pavel Latushko, who is also in the case of the so-called coordinating council, was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Another three defendants, Maria Moroz, Olga Kovalkova and Siarhei Dylevski, were each sentenced to 12 years in prison by the Minsk City Court.
In response, Tsikhanouskaya called the trial a “farce” and vowed to continue her struggle and political activities.
“This is how the regime ‘rewarded’ my work for democratic changes in Belarus. But today I don’t think about my own sentence. I think about thousands of innocents, detained & sentenced to real prison terms,” she said on Twitter. “I won’t stop until each of them is released.”
Tsikhanouskaya has been charged with 12 offences, including “conspiracy to unconstitutionally seize power”.
Source: euronews.comÂ
