Former presidential candidate of Belarus Tsepkalo received 17 years
The Minsk Regional Court sentenced former presidential candidate Valery Tsepkala in absentia to 17 years in a high-security penal colony. The oppositionist was found guilty of a number of criminal articles, including the article on accepting large-scale bribes, the Belarusian Prosecutor General’s Office said on Friday, April 7.
“For the totality of crimes, Tsepkala was sentenced to 17 years in prison for serving in a correctional colony under a reinforced regime with a fine of 1,000 basic units (37 thousand Belarusian rubles) with deprivation of the right to hold positions related to the exercise of organizational and administrative functions and administrative and economic, for a period of 5 years.
Earlier, it was reported that Tsepkala was accused of nine articles, including calls to seize power, creation and funding of an extremist group, as well as public insults and slurs against Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko. The prosecution has asked for 19 years in prison for Tsepkala.
Failed Presidential Candidate
Valery Tsepkalo intended to participate in the presidential elections in Belarus in 2020, but the CEC refused to register him as a candidate, and then Tsepkalo left the country, fearing detention. After that, his wife Veronika Tsepkala joined candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and Maria Kolesnikova, forming the so-called “female triumvirate” that opposed Alexander Lukashenko.
After the elections, which, according to the CEC, were won by Lukashenka, Tikhanovskaya and Tsepkalo left Belarus under pressure from the authorities. Kolesnikova was arrested in September 2020. A year later, she was sentenced to 11 years in prison, having been found guilty of conspiring to seize power, calling for actions that threaten Belarus’ national security, and also creating an extremist formation.
In March 2023, a Minsk court sentenced Svetlana Tikhanovskaya in absentia to 15 years in prison.
Source: DW
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