The human rights activist, 60, faces 7 to 12 years in prison. His trial is part of the wave of repression that strikes Belarus since the fraudulent re -election of Alexandre Loukachenko in August 2020.
by Faustine Vincent
When the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to him, in October 2022, with the Russian NGO Memorial and the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties, the Belarusian opponent Ales Bialiatski could not come and get it in person : He was in prison. Thursday, January 5, it is in a cage with white bars, supervised by four arms police officers, that this 60 -year -old human rights activist has been reappeared for the first time in public since his arrest in July 2021, L’Air Misaigri et pale face.
His trial opened in Minsk, Belarus. The founder of the Belarusian NGO Defense of Human Rights Viasna is accused with two of his collaborators, Valentin Stefanovitch and Vladimir Labkovitch, of having transited by the Belarusian border “a large amount of money in an organized group” And to have “financed collective actions seriously affected by public order”. According to the NGO, power criticizes them the very principle of their activities, which consist in particular in paying part of the fines imposed on political prisoners and finance lawyers.
A fourth opponent, Dmitri Soloviev, is tried in absentia after having succeeded in fleeing Belarus for Poland. “It is a false trial. I do not trust,” he said, calling “absurd” the accusations and “theater” the legal procedure as “absurd”. “The law does not exist in Belarus. The process is entirely controlled by a government of gangsters”.
vague of frantic repression
The audience was held in public. Thirty people were present, including representatives of state media and relatives of the accused. A dozen others have not been authorized to enter, including representatives of the diplomatic corps, according to Viasna, also a member of the International Human Rights Federation (FIDH). The accused pleaded non -guilty. They incur 7 to 12 years in prison.
This political trial is part of the wave of frantic repression that strikes Belarus since the fraudulent re -election of Alexandre Loukachenko in August 2020. The ballot had triggered an unprecedented protest movement. The autocrat, in power since 1994, has matured the dispute by methodically crushing opponents and civil society, tortured, imprisoned or forced to exile. The Westerners have adopted several series of sanctions against Belarus, which enjoys the unwavering support of Moscow since the country has agreed to serve as a rear base for the Russian troops for their offensive in Ukraine.
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