Two Belarusian journalists working for media announced by the government of President Alexander Lukashenko for being extremists, were sentenced to imprisonment, reported the leading human rights organization in Balarus "Vyasna", quoted by the Associated Press and BTA.
Reporter Ales Sobolevski was sentenced yesterday to four years in prison, and cameraman Evgeniy Glushkov to three years, by a court in the city of Mogilev, the organization said. They have been found guilty of participating in an armed conflict abroad, but no further details have been released.
The two worked for two Belarusian media outlets, declared extremist, but continuing to work from abroad.
The verdicts handed down in a closed court session are the latest in Belarus' ongoing crackdown on dissent and independent journalism. The intensified crackdown began after the outbreak of massive protests against the results of the 2020 presidential election, which brought Lukashenko a sixth term in power and which was not recognized by the opposition, notes the Associated Press.
Over 35,000 people were arrested during the repression. Many of the most prominent opposition figures fled Belarus, and others were sentenced to long prison terms.
According to "Vyasna" there are nearly 1,400 political prisoners in Belarus.