Minsk court sentenced Tikhanovskaya in absentia to 15 years in prison
The Minsk City Court issued a verdict on Monday, March 6, in the case of members of the opposition Coordinating Council. Former presidential candidate of Belarus Svetlana Tikhanovskaya was sentenced to 15 years in prison, Pavel Latushko – to 18 years, Maria Moroz, Olga Kovalkova and Sergei Dylevsky were sentenced to 12 years in prison, reports the correspondent of the state agency BelTA. All judgments were handed down in absentia.
As stated in the verdict, all defendants were found guilty of conspiracy to seize state power unconstitutionally; the creation of an extremist formation and the leadership of such formation. In addition, they are accused of public calls to seize state power and commit other actions aimed at undermining the national security of Belarus, including the application of sanctions against natural and legal persons of the republic and deliberate actions aimed at to incite hatred and social hatred. based on a different social affiliation.
Case of the Coordinating Council
On August 9, 2020, presidential elections were held in Belarus. The winner was Alexander Lukashenko, reportedly supported by over 80% of voters. The opposition did not recognize the election results.
On August 14, former Belarusian presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya announced the creation of a “Coordinating Council” (CC) for the transfer of power. The first meeting of the Constitutional Court was held in Minsk on 18 August. And the next day, the Presidium of the Constitutional Court was elected, and the goals of the organization were announced: to stop the political persecution of Belarusian citizens by the authorities, initiate criminal proceedings, bring the perpetrators to justice, release all political prisoners, cancel court decisions illegal, paying compensation to victims, recognizing the elections of 9 August 2020 as invalid, and holding new elections in line with international standards with a new composition of all election commissions, including the Central Commission. Lukashenka called the creation of the Constitutional Court and the demands put forward by it “an attempt to seize power with all the ensuing consequences”.
On August 20, 2020, the Prosecutor General of Belarus announced the initiation of criminal proceedings against the participants of the Constitutional Court under Article 361 of the Criminal Code of Belarus (“Calls to action aimed at causing harm to the national security of the Republic of Belarus”). In December of the same year, a criminal case was added “on the facts of the creation of an extremist formation and its leadership, financing of its activities and conspiracy to seize state power unconstitutionally”.
Due to the repression, many members of the Coordination Council, including former Belarusian presidential candidate Svyatlana Tikhanovskaya herself, were forced to leave Belarus. Four were arrested: Maria Kolesnikova was sentenced to 11 years in prison, Maxim Znak – to 10, Ksenia Lutskina – to 8, Alana Gebremariam was sentenced to 2.5 years.
Source: DW
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