(ANSA-AFP) - MINSK, FEB 18 - A court in Belarus on Thursday
sentenced two journalists to two years in prison on charges of
fomenting protests against strongman leader Alexander
Lukashenko. Authorities in the ex-Soviet country are pursuing a
number of criminal cases against activists and journalists in
the wake of months of anti-government protests last year. The
demonstrations swept Belarus after Lukashenko claimed a
landslide victory in an August election that the opposition and
many Western countries said was fraudulent. In response, the
authorities unleashed a mass crackdown, which left at least four
protesters dead, thousands in jail and hundreds claiming torture
in custody. Poland-based opposition television station Belsat
reported Thursday that the two journalists, Katerina Bakhvalova,
27, and Daria Chultsova, 23, were sentenced for leading "group
actions that grossly violate public order" while filming a
November rally in support of a dead anti-government protester.
(ANSA-AFP).
© Copyright ANSA - All rights reserved