Twelve-year sentences for the women condemned as president’s ‘revenge’ while UN report accuses country of possible crimes against humanity
Belarus has handed long jail terms to senior staff at the country’s largest independent news site, which was forced to close after historic demonstrations against strongmanThe verdicts are the latest in a crackdown on journalists, opposition figures and activists who challenged Lukashenko’s claim that he won a sixth presidential term in 2020.
“The verdict for Marina Zolotova and Lyudmila Chekina is another attempt by the regime to kill honest journalism in“RSF is outraged by this iniquitous sentence, which is Lukashenko’s revenge against those who inform the population,” the Paris-based campaign group said.The proceedings are linked to massive rallies that broke out against Lukashenko after the August 2020 vote and the brutal crackdown he instigated against critics of his nearly 30-year rule.
The paper issued by the UN high commissioner for human rights on Friday covered the run-up to the disputed presidential election in August 2020 and a crackdown on demonstrators and critics in the months that followed. Belarus’ permanent mission to the UN in Geneva dismissed the report, calling it “a lobbying tool for western countries’ anti-Belarusian agenda at the United Nations and the Human Rights Council”.
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