Belarus’s Supreme Court on Tuesday sentenced opposition leader Viktor Babariko to 14 years in prison for corruption, money laundering and tax evasion, BELTA reports.
The verdict cannot be appealed, an independent journalist reports from the court.
The prosecutor’s office last week demanded that Babariko be sentenced to 15 years in prison.
It is believed that the trial of Babariko is in fact a political trial.
Last year, Babariko planned to run in the presidential election and was considered one of the strongest competitors of long-standing Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, but he was arrested in June.
Babariko has been accused of accepting bribes and laundering the proceeds of crime while running Belgazprombank, a subsidiary of Russia’s energy giant Gazprom.
Babariko denied being guilty of the charges against him.
Babarico’s tweet account, managed by his supporters, reports that he will have to serve a prison sentence in a high-security colony.
The court also sentenced Babariko to a fine equivalent to 45,000 euros and banned him from holding high positions in the public sector.
Along with Babariko, seven more people were tried, including several employees of Belgazprombank. They all pleaded guilty to the charges and were sentenced to three to six years in prison on Tuesday.
Last year, several leading opposition figures were detained in Belarus ahead of the presidential election.
Former President Alexander Lukashenko has once again been declared the winner of the August 9 elections, but the opposition and the international community have accused the regime of widespread falsification of the election results.
Lukashenko’s only real competitor in the election was Sviatlan Cihanouska, who took the place of her husband Sergei Cihanouska. He was detained after announcing his intention to run in the elections. He spent more than a year in prison awaiting trial, which began in June.
Cihanouska, considered by the opposition to be the real winner of the election, fled to Lithuania after the election.
After the elections in Belarus, mass protests began, which were relentlessly suppressed by the authoritarian regime.
Marija Kolesnikova, the leader of the Babariko election campaign, and her lawyer Maksims Znaks have also been detained. They are accused of conspiracy to illegally seize power.
–
–
