Belarusian court sentences 20 analysts to prison for conspiracy

Lina Portman2 days ago

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TALLINN, Estonia — A Belarusian court has sentenced 20 political analysts to prison terms of at least 10 years each after convicting them in absentia of plotting to overthrow the government and participating in an extremist group.

The analysts all live outside Belarus but could face imprisonment upon their return to the authoritarian state.

The convictions and sentences announced Monday come as a relentless crackdown has jailed many opposition figures and forced others to flee Belarus.

The crackdown began after mass protests erupted across the country following August 2020 elections, whose disputed results gave a sixth term to President Alexander Lukashenko, who came to power in 1994.

Alexander Dabravolsky, a top adviser to exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya, was sentenced to 11 and a half years in prison on Monday. The other defendants, including Tsikhanouskaya's spokeswoman Anna Kasulina, received sentences ranging from 10 to 11 years in prison.

Those sentenced include Ryhor Astapenia, director of the Belarus Initiative at the UK's Chatham House Institute of Foreign Affairs; Yauheni Kryzhanouski, a research associate at the University of Strasbourg; and Katsiaryna Shmatsina, a political analyst at Virginia Tech University.

Dozens of human rights organizations and independent media outlets have been closed since the crackdown began. Among those imprisoned is Ales Bialiatski, founder of the human rights organization Viasna and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.