| Submit your comments on this article |
| Europe |
| Belarus sentences Lukashenko challengers |
| 2011-05-21 |
| [Al Jazeera] A Belarusian court has handed down suspended two-year prison terms to two opposition politicians who ran against Alexander Lukashenko, the country's president, in last year's election. Vladimir Neklyayev, 65, and Vitaly Rymashevsky, 36, were found guilty on Friday of "actions disrupting social order". Sentences for both were suspended by two years, the Frunze district court of Minsk ruled. Last week, leading opposition figure Andrei Sannikov of the Charter 97 rights group, who also stood against Lukashenko, was sentenced to five years in a high-security prison on the more serious charge of organising mass disturbances. Neklyayev linked his relatively soft sentence to pressure from the West and popular support. "If it was not for the support from the US and the European Union, I would not be standing here in front of you but would rather sit (in a KGB prison) answering the question about who I am spying for," he told news hounds. "This is (also) a result of people's solidarity." |
| Posted by:Fred |