Belarusian activist receives three-year suspended sentence for insulting Lukashenko

(Patria) - Catholic activist from Belarus Vladislav Beladzed was sentenced yesterday to three years in prison, suspended, on charges of insulting the president and inciting social unrest.

This verdict was condemned by Western diplomats as a politically motivated trial.

Beladzed, who taught Catholic catechism at the city's Cathedral of the Holy Name of Mary in Minsk, actively participated in mass protests that erupted in Belarus after the 2020 presidential elections.

Following those elections, current president Alexander Lukashenko claimed victory, while the opposition and the international community claimed the elections were rigged. The protests organized on that occasion were violently suppressed by the authorities.

Since then, Belarusian security services have arrested over 35,000 people, many of whom later testified to being subjected to torture. A large number were forced to leave the country.

Beladzed was repeatedly detained by police at rallies. However, he continued to support the country's movement for free elections, and after the start of the Russian war in Ukraine, he publicly prayed for peace.

He has been in police custody since May 2023, and the human rights organization Viasna claims he suffers from numerous health problems. It previously reported that his relatives saw signs of him being beaten in custody when they attended his trial.

Beladzed was also forced to record a video from his prison cell in which he stated he was gay "under obvious duress," according to a Viasna statement.

Beladzed's case, which is another blow to Belarusian civil society, has drawn sharp criticism from Western diplomats, who condemned the charges against him as unjust and politically motivated.

During the 2020 protests, some Catholic and Protestant churches provided shelter and support to the demonstrators.

Catholic and Protestant clergy, who supported the protests and hid demonstrators in their churches, became targets of repression, but even some Orthodox priests condemned state violence.

About 80 percent of Belarus's population are Orthodox Christians, while about 14 percent are Catholics living mostly in the west, north, and central parts of the country. About two percent of the population are Protestants.

Viasna states the number of 1,418 political prisoners still detained in Belarus, including Nobel laureate Ales Bialiatski.