Slovak Prime Minister Iveta Radicova has nominated the jailed Belarusian rights activist Ales Byalyatski for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize.
Byalyatski, head of the Vyasna human rights center in Minsk, was found guilty of tax evasion and sentenced to 4 1/2 years in jail on November 24.
The charges against Byalyatski stem from his reported use of personal bank accounts in Lithuania and Poland to receive funding from international donors for human rights activities in Belarus.
Byalyatski pleaded not guilty and says the case against him is politically motivated.
Last month, a group of Polish parliament members and five members of the Ukrainian parliament recommended Byalyatski for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Prominent Iranian human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi has supported his nomination as well.
With agency reports