TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Belarusian authorities on Friday began trial proceedings in absentia against 20 prominent political analysts from some of the world’s biggest universities and think tanks, the latest move in the country’s years-long crackdown on opposition.
The analysts, all of whom have left Belarus, face charges of conspiring to overthrow the government and joining an extremist group, which could see them face up to 12 years in prison if convicted and have their assets seized upon their return.
In a statement, the analysts rejected the charges against them as “absurd” and said they “cannot expect a fair trial.”
Belarus has seen mass protests following a 2020 presidential election in which autocratic President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, won a sixth term in office. The opposition and Western countries contested his re-election and accused the vote of fraud.
More than 35,000 people have been arrested, thousands have been brutally beaten in custody, dozens of independent media outlets and human rights organizations have been shut down, and journalists have been imprisoned.
About half a million people, including the main opposition leader, have fled Belarus, a country of 9.5 million people since then, and authorities launched a campaign this year against Belarusians living abroad calling for tougher sanctions against Lukashenko’s government.
Authorities allege the analysts advised and supported Sviatlana Tikhanovskaya, the opposition leader who ran against Lukashenko in the 2020 presidential election. Tikhanovskaya left the country under pressure from the authorities shortly after the vote and was convicted in absentia last year and sentenced to 15 years in prison for plotting to overthrow the government and create an extremist organization.
Those on trial include Rihor Astapenia, director of Chatham House’s Belarus Initiative, Yavheni Kryzanowski, an associate research fellow at the University of Strasbourg, and Katsialina Shmatsina, a policy analyst and postdoctoral researcher at Virginia Tech.
“Unfortunately, there is no doubt that we, like thousands of other Belarusian men and women convicted in similar politically motivated cases, will be ‘sentenced’ to the prison terms called for in the indictment,” the analysts’ statement, published by the Viasna Center, Belarus’ oldest and most prominent human rights organization, said.
According to Viasna, Belarus, a country of 9.5 million people, currently has 1,403 political prisoners, including Ales Bialyacki, the country’s founding father who will be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022.
Tsikhanouskaya, who has been living in exile in Lithuania since 2020, on Friday denounced the trial of the analysts and called on think tanks around the world to express “solidarity and support to those who defend free thought in Belarus.”
