Minsk (AFP)
A Belarusian journalist and doctor were sentenced to prison terms in Belarus on Tuesday for their revelations about the death of an opposition protester after an arraignment.
The regime of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has suppressed since last year a historic protest movement born of the controversial re-election in August of the head of state, in charge of the country since 1994.
Katerina Borisevich, 36-year-old journalist for the independent online media Tut.by, and Artiom Sorokine, a 37-year-old doctor, were both found guilty of "disclosing a medical secret with aggravating circumstances", after of a closed-door trial.
Ms Borisevich was sentenced to six months in prison and Mr Sorokin to two years in prison with one year probation, allowing him to be released in the courtroom.
Both were also fined the equivalent of several hundred dollars.
On November 13, Ms Borisevich had published - a medical document provided by Mr Sorokin in support - an article claiming that a protester, Roman Bondarenko, had no alcohol in his blood at the time of his death after a muscular arrest a few days earlier.
Its publication contradicted the version of the authorities, who claim that the young man was arrested while intoxicated.
Faced with demonstrations involving tens of thousands of people, the regime largely silenced the protest with massive arrests marked by police violence, while the main opponents were imprisoned or forced into exile.
On Tuesday, the Belarusian Investigation Committee, responsible for the main investigations in the country, announced that it had placed on the list of wanted persons the leading figure of the Belarusian opposition Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, a refugee in Lithuania, accusing her of "preparing mass disorders ".
Investigators also released a video claiming that it showed Ms Tikhanovskaya discussing plans to take over government buildings in Belarus' second-largest city, Gomel, after the August presidential election.
For her part, Anna Krassoulina, spokeswoman for Ms. Tikhanovskaïa, assured that the opponent "had never participated in the development of such projects".
The repression of the protest movement in Belarus has been condemned by Western countries, the EU and the United States having taken sanctions against relatives of the Belarusian president, who, supported by Moscow, has remained deaf to these pressures.
© 2021 AFP