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Iryna Khalip appeals her sentence

Journalist Iryna Khalip, the wife of former presidential candidate Andrey Sannikaw, on Wednesday appealed her sentence to the Minsk City Court.

On May 16, a district judge in Minsk sentenced the 43-year-old Khalip to a suspended two-year prison term with two years' probation in connection with a post-election protest staged in Minsk on December 19, 2010. The woman is banned from leaving Minsk.

As Ms. Khalip told BelaPAN, her appeal was a "preliminary one." "The problem is that I haven't received records of my trial, which should have been provided to me within five days of the sentencing," she said. "We don't know whether the records contain our objections to my unlawful sentence and our arguments."

A full-fledged appeal will be filed after the records arrive, Ms. Khalip said.

Ms. Khalip's co-defendants Paval Sevyarynets and Syarhey Martsalew are also expected to appeal their sentences.

Mr. Sevyarynets, the former campaign manager of presidential candidate Vital Rymashewski, received a three-year "restricted freedom" term in an open-type correctional institution, while Mr. Martsalew, the former campaign manager of presidential candidate Mikalay Statkevich, was given a suspended two-year prison sentence with two years' probation. They have until May 27 to appeal their sentences. //BelaPAN