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Lukashenka describes sentence against Ales Byalyatski as very "humane"

 

Alyaksandr Lukashenka said on Friday that the prison sentence imposed on Belarusian human rights defender Ales Byalyatski was very "humane."

"Thankfully, this is not America," the Belarusian leader told reporters while staying in the Ivatsevichy district, Brest region. "There he could have been given not four and a half years – almost the shortest possible term – but 17 years for such money."

Those who abide by law in Belarus will have no problems, but those who violate it should be punished, he said.

According to Mr. Lukashenka, he has not yet received any requests to pardon Mr. Byalyatski. "When there is a request, I'll consider it," he said. "I believe that the court acted within its competence and in accordance with law."

On November 24, Judge Syarhey Bandarenka of the Pershamayski District Court in Minsk sentenced Mr. Byalyatski, the 49-year-old leader of a human rights organization called Vyasna (Spring) and vice president of the International Federation for Human Rights, to four and a half years in prison on a charge of large-scale tax evasion.

The charge stemmed from information about Mr. Byalyatski's bank accounts abroad, which was provided by authorities in Lithuania and Poland. During his trial, Mr. Byalyatski insisted that the money transferred by various foundations to his bank accounts abroad had been intended to finance Vyasna's activities and had not been used for personal spending.

The sentence has been condemned by the United States, the European Union and a number of individual EU countries and international human rights organizations. // BelaPAN