The United Nations on Friday called for the dropping of charges against Belarusian activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, a day after the opening of the trial against him for alleged smuggling.
«We are deeply concerned about the trial against Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, which started on Thursday in Belarus,» said Jeremy Laurence, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, before recalling that the man faces up to 12 years in prison.
He also said that two other members of the non-governmental organization Viasna, of which he is the founder, are also facing prison sentences and stressed that the international organization «has serious concerns about the procedures in his trial».
«The three are among hundreds of people detained following the violent crackdown on anti-government protests in 2020. We demand that the charges against them be dropped and that they be immediately released,» Laurence concluded.
Bialiatski, his deputy, Valiantsin Stefanovich; and the coordinator of the ‘Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections’ campaign, Vladimir Labkovich; are on trial for «acting as part of an organized group from April 4, 2016 to July 14, 2021,» according to Viasna.
The activist, 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, becoming the fourth person to be recognized with the award while imprisoned.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
