A prominent Belarusian human rights activist who was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in jail for tax evasion has been transferred from a detention center in Minsk to a labor camp in the eastern city of Babruysk.
The charges against Ales Byalyatski, head of Minsk-based Vyasna human rights organization, stemmed from his reported use of personal bank accounts in Lithuania and Poland to receive funding from international donors for human rights activities in Belarus.
He was convicted of the tax charges in November.
Byalyatski pleaded not guilty, and he and his supporters say the case against him is politically motivated.
His wife, Natallya Pinchuk, told RFE/RL on February 17 that prison officials had not given her any details regarding Byalyatski’s detention, except that he had been transferred to the Babruysk labor camp.