Nobel Peace Prize recipient Ales Bialiatski has been sentenced to serve 10 years in prison by a court in Belarus. The sixty-year-old face charges of smuggling and financing “actions grossly violating public order”, according to the Viasna human rights group.

Mr. Bialiatski is the founder of Viasna and was one of three winners of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize. He was arrested in December 2021 following mass protests over disputed presidential elections the previous year. Mr. Bialiatski was accused of smuggling cash into Belarus to fund an opposition activity against the authoritarian rule of Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Mr. Bialiatski's colleagues, Valentin Stefanovich and Vladimir Labkovich, were also sentenced on the same charges. Stefanovich was sentenced to nine