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The European Parliament demanded Thursday that authorities in Belarus cease the mistreatment of a former presidential hopeful imprisoned for standing as much as the nation’s authoritarian chief and instantly launch him and different political prisoners.
Viktar Babaryka was handed a 14-year jail sentence in 2021 on prices that he rejected as political punishment for launching a bid to problem Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in a 2020 presidential election.
The European Parliament stated that Babaryka was hospitalized in April with traces of beatings that required surgical procedure. Babaryka’s supporters stated that the authorities have not launched any details about his situation and barred his lawyer from visiting him.
The European Parliament urged Belarusian authorities to launch Babaryka and different political prisoners. It strongly condemned the “inhumane therapy of political prisoners and their members of the family” in Belarus.
Belarus was shaken by main anti-government protests after Lukashenko’s disputed August 2020 reelection, which the opposition and the West denounced as rigged. Babaryka was arrested earlier than the vote and by no means allowed to enter the race.
The European Parliament has condemned the therapy of a former challenger to authoritarian Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, whose presidential bid landed him 14 years behind bars. (Contributor/Getty Pictures)
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the primary opposition challenger within the 2020 election who was compelled to depart the nation after the vote, thanked the European Parliament and welcomed its name for broader sanctions towards Belarusian authorities.
“There have to be no impunity for these crimes,” she stated.
Belarusian authorities responded to the demonstrations with a serious crackdown that noticed greater than 35,000 folks arrested, 1000’s crushed by police and dozens of media shops and nongovernmental organizations shut.
Human rights teams say Belarus now has about 1,500 political prisoners. They are saying such prisoners are subjected to merciless, inhuman and degrading therapy and torture, with a few of them dying in detention.
Belarus’ main human rights group, Visana, reported Thursday that 35-year-old artwork supervisor Pavel Belavus obtained a 13-year jail sentence following a closed trial on prices of committing excessive treason, “creating an extremist group” and “hurting the nationwide safety.”
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Belavus, who has been in custody since his November 2021 arrest, was one of many main organizers of opposition protests within the wake of the 2020 presidential election. Throughout his trial, he rejected the fees and vowed to proceed to champion democratic freedoms.
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