Belarusian human rights activist, 60, sentenced to two-year imprisonment

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On October 23, Minsk court sentenced Belarusian citizen, human rights activist Yekaterina Sadovskaya to two-year imprisonment and a fine of $1,800 for criticizing Belarusian authorities, Radio Liberty informs. 

Investigator of Minsk public prosecutor’s office demanded a three-year imprisonment for the 60-year-old woman. However, the court took into consideration that 84-year-old mother and disabled husband are dependent on Sadovskaya for support.   

Appeals to boycott March elections, at which Alexander Lukashenko was presidential contender for the third time, as well as to carry out the president’s psychiatric examination were contained in document, written by Sadovskaya. The court ascertained that the appeal was sent to nobody, being kept in her computer.  

Sadovskaya does not admit guilt. She stated that people were sentenced even for thoughts in Byelorussia, adding that Lukashenko transformed human rights into mere empty words. She called her sentence prosecution, caused by political motives per sample of trials of people’s enemies during the Soviet times.