The Leninsky District Court in Minsk on Friday found Nobel laureate Ales Bialiatski, who heads the unregistered Vesna Human Rights Center, guilty of the criminal charges lodged against him, sentencing him to 10 years in a maximum security penal colony and fining him about $65,000, APA reports citing TASS.
According to the source, Vesna representatives Valentin Stefanovich and Vladimir Labkovich, who were implicated in the case together with Bialiatski, were sentenced to 9 and 7 years, respectively, in a maximum security penal colony. Dmitry Solovyov, who is currently outside of Belarus and whose case was heard separately in absentia, was sentenced to 8 years in prison. All three defendants were fined approximately $40,000 each.
The verdict may be appealed within 10 days.
The Vesna Center representatives were detained in July 2021 and put on trial on January 5, 2023. All pled not guilty.
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