TALLINN: A Belarusian journalist has been sentenced to four years in prison for her critical reports chronicling a sweeping crackdown on dissent launched by the country’s authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. The Minsk City Court convicted Volha Radzivonava on Tuesday on charges of “insulting the president” and “discrediting Belarus” and sentenced her to four years in prison. Radzivonava, who worked for KYKY.Org news portal and freelanced for other news outlets, has been in custody since her arrest in March.
The Viasna human rights group said that while in custody Radzivonava was sent to a psychiatric clinic for evaluation. Belarus responded to massive protests that were sparked by the widely disputed 2020 vote that gave Lukashenko a sixth term in office with a brutal crackdown in which about 65,000 people were arrested.
Leading opposition figures were either imprisoned or fled the country. Human rights activists say Belarus is holding about 1,300 political prisoners and that many of them are denied adequate medical care and contact with their families. The Belarusian Association of Journalists said 35 Belarusian journalists are currently in custody on politically-driven charges.
“The authorities are intensifying repressions against the media ahead of January’s presidential election, making the profession of journalist one of the most dangerous in the country,” said the association’s leader Andrei Bastunets. “The exemplary cruel sentence handed to Radzivonava is intended to scare all others and make them silent.” Belarus’ law enforcement agencies have launched a new wave of arrests in recent months seeking to uproot any sign of dissent ahead of January’s election in which Lukashenko is seeking a seventh term.
Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus with an iron hand for over 30 years relying on Kremlin subsidies and support, has allowed Russia to use his country’s territory to send troops into neighbouring Ukraine in 2022 and to host some of its tactical nuclear weapons.
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