Kyiv, Ukraine: The Supreme Court in Belarus on Tuesday flopped a former competitor in 2020 the President’s race to 14 years in prison on charges of corruption in cases that politically motivated.
Viktor Babariko, former Chief Executive of Russia’s bank, aspires to challenge Belarus authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, in last year’s election.
But Babariko was arrested two months before voting in August 2020.
His arrest was drawing thousands of protesters to the streets.
At that time, he was widely regarded as a top competitor in a race.
Babariko remained in prison since his arrest and rejected allegations of corruption against him politically pushed.
On Tuesday, he was found guilty by taking bribes and money laundering.
The court handed over a 14-year prison sentence and a fine of approximately equivalent to $ 57,000.
He would not be able to appeal the Supreme Court verdict.
Lukashenko’s re-election until the sixth semester last year pushed the months of mass protests, the biggest drawing up to 200,000 people.
The opposition refused to recognize the election results, by saying that voting was manipulated.
Authorities responded to demonstrations with harsh acts who saw more than 35,000 people arrested and thousands of people were beaten by the police.
Most of the opposition leaders have been imprisoned or forced to leave the country.