MINSK -- A court in Minsk has handed prison terms to the leader of the Belarusian opposition United Civic Party (AHP) and two associates after finding them guilty of participating in a protest march days after a disputed August 2020 presidential election that handed authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka a sixth term in power, despite widespread belief that the vote was rigged.
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.
Judge Anastasia Kulik of the Pershamayski district court on November 3 sentenced AHP leader Mikalay Kazlou to 30 months in prison; the leader of the AHP's branch in Minsk, Aksana Alyakseyeva, to 18 months in prison; and human rights defender Antanina Kavalyova to one year in prison.
The trio was arrested in late July and charged with taking part in actions that disrupted civil order. Their trial started on November 1. Kazlou pleaded not guilty, Kavalyova pleaded partially guilty, and Alyakseyeva pleaded guilty.
On October 31, another court in Minsk sentenced three other AHP members -- Andrus Asmalouski, Dziyana Charnushina, and Artur Smalyakou -- to prison terms of between two and three years on the same charges.
The crimes in both cases stem from a rally on August 23, 2020, that was attended by at least 100,000 people who were challenging the results of the presidential poll and a brutal police crackdown that started shortly after Lukashenka was declared the winner.
Security forces used sometimes deadly force as they violently detained tens of thousands of people.
Much of the opposition leadership since the election has been jailed or forced into exile. Several protesters have been killed, and there have also been credible reports of torture during a widening security crackdown.
Belarusian authorities have also shut down several nongovernmental organizations and independent media outlets.
The United States, the European Union, and several other countries have refused to acknowledge Lukashenka as the winner of the vote and imposed several rounds of sanctions on him and his regime, citing election fraud and the police crackdown ordered by officials.
The AHP is one of the oldest opposition political parties in Belarus and has been in operation since 1995.