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Belarusian prosecutor requests 12 years in prison for Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski

A prosecutor in a Belarusian court has requested a 12 years prison sentence for Ales Bialiatski, a human rights defender and the joint 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner, BelTA reports.

Bialiatski is accused of leading Viasna, a human rights centre.

The prosecutor also requested prison terms for other Vyasna activists: 11 years for Valentin Stefanovich, 9 years for Uladzimir Labkovich, and 10 years for Dmitri Solovyov who left the country.

The four are accused of “smuggling at least €201,000 and $54,000” and “financing protest rallies under the guise of human rights activities”.

Ales Bialiatski won the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize together with Russia’s Memorial and Ukraine’s Centre for Civil Liberties “for their efforts in documenting war crimes, human rights abuses, and the abuse of power in their respective home countries.”

Bialiatski was a co-founder of Viasna, a democratic movement established in Belarus in the mid-1980s, and “ dedicated his entire life to fighting for democracy and peace in Belarus,” the Nobel Committee says.

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