Belarusian activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski faces up to 12 years in prison after Belarusian prosecutors charged him with smuggling, according to the NGO Viasna, of which he is the founder.
Bialiatski currently remains in prison since July 2021, and has been charged along with his deputy, Valiantsin Stefanovich, and the coordinator of the campaign ‘Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections, Vladimir Labkovich.
Likewise, Dmitry Solovyov, who was forced to leave Belarus, will also be tried in the same case in a special procedure, although the date of the joint trial is unknown at the moment, according to a statement from the organization.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the defendants «acted as part of an organized group from April 4, 2016 to July 14, 2021» and moved «large amounts of cash withdrawn in Lithuania across the customs border of the Eurasian Economic Union.»
Bialiatski, who spent three years in prison, between 2011 and 2014, being subsequently detained after the 2020 post-election protests, received the Nobel Peace Prize last October 7 and was the fourth person to be recognized with the award while in prison.
The Belarusian government on the same day criticized the Nobel Prize to three individuals and organizations, including the Belarusian activist, and claimed that recognitions like this make Alfred Nobel «turning in his grave».
For her part, opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, President Lukashenko’s main rival in the elections, congratulated Bialiatski for the award and took the opportunity to demand the release of «all political prisoners».
