A Belarusian court has sentenced former presidential candidate Viktor Babarika to 14 years in prison on corruption charges, local media and Russian news agencies reported.
Babarika’s team of lawyers said before the verdict that the charges against her client were fabricated to thwart his political ambitions. “Victor Babarika was sentenced to 14 years in prison with the highest security,” his supporters said on the 57-year-old opposition’s Twitter account.
Babarika, the former head of Belgazprombank, was arrested last June as he tried to run against veteran leader Alexander Lukashenko in a presidential election in which critics of Lukashenko were criticized.
Prosecutors had asked Babarika, who claims to be innocent, to be sentenced to 15 years in prison for his alleged crimes. After Babarika was barred from running in the election and taken into custody, one of his allies, Maria Kolesnikova, joined forces with two other women – Svetlana Tichanovskaya and Veronica Tsepkalo – to lead the campaign.
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Kolesnikova is now imprisoned in Belarus, Tsepkalo has escaped abroad, and Tikhanovskaya, who has been Lukashenko’s main opposition figure since then, is trying to undermine Lukashenko by Lukashenko.
Belarusian authorities have cracked down on opposition protests that erupted after the vote, prompting Western sanctions against Minsk. Mr Lukashenko has been in power since 1994 and has denied any wrongdoing.
