Prominent Belarusian activist and former presidential candidate Andrey Dzmitryeu has gone on trial over his participation in mass protests against the results of the contentious 2020 presidential election that kept authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka in power.
Dzmitryeu, a former co-chairman of the Havary Praudu (Tell the Truth) who ran for president against Lukashenka in 2020, was detained on January 11 and has since been in pretrial detention. His trial began on April 5 at a district court in Minsk.
Dzmitryeu is charged with participating in group actions against the public order from August 23 to September 2020 amid the nationwide protests that erupted after Lukashenka was declared the winner of the August 9 election by a landslide.
The Crisis In Belarus
Read our coverage as Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka continues his brutal crackdown on NGOs, activists, and independent media following the August 2020 presidential election.
Dzmitryeu is also accused of disobeying official orders and shouting anti-government slogans. He faces up to four years in prison if found guilty.
Belarus's Investigative Committee claimed following Dzmitryeu's detention that the opposition politician "crossed the state border of Belarus 599 times, 33 of them after 2020," and that his alleged contacts with political representatives in Europe and the United States could constitute "coordination of his activities from abroad."
The 41-year-old politician ran as an independent against Lukashenka on a pledge to establish an interim government and hold another presidential election within one year. He garnered 1.21 percent of the vote, fourth among five candidates in a race in which several potential candidates were removed from the running in the lead-up to the vote.
After Lukashenka was declared the winner in the first round, handing him a sixth-straight term in office, opposition leaders claimed the balloting was rigged and that Lukashenka's main rival, Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, was the rightful winner.
Mass protests erupted around the country and lasted for several months. Thousands were detained in a brutal and sometimes violent crackdown and there have been credible reports of torture and ill-treatment of detainees by security forces. Several people died during the suppression of the protests.
In the wake of the unrest, Belarusian authorities have moved to shut down critical and nonstate media outlets and human rights groups.
In August 2021, police briefly detained Dzmitryeu on unspecified charges. Shortly afterward, Dzmitryeu's Tell the Truth party was shut down by the Belarusian authorities, its offices searched, and its accounts blocked.
Dzmitryeu then went on to run a blog critical of the government and created a new political organization, We Will Do It Together.
Following his detention in January, a prerecorded video appeared on Dzmitryeu's website in which he said he was aware he would be arrested but that he would not stop his political activities.
The 68-year-old Lukashenka has leaned heavily on Russian support amid Western sanctions while punishing the opposition and arresting or forcing abroad many of its leaders.
The United States, the European Union, and several other countries have refused to recognize Lukashenka's self-declared victory.