"David P." <imbibe@mindspring.com> wrote:
> Nobel Laureate and Activist Ales Bialiatski Sentenced to 10 Years in Belarusian Prison
> By Ann M. Simmons, March 3, 2023, WSJ
> Putin has given Lukashenko financial and military support, bolstering
> his embattled junior partner and binding Minsk more tightly to
> Russia. Lukashenko has publicly supported Putin’s war in Ukraine. Last
> year, Minsk allowed Moscow to use Belarusian territory to launch part
> of its invasion of Ukraine and Lukashenko has since said that he would
> permit Putin to stage further attacks from his country.
>
> At a press conference in Minsk last month, Lukashenko denied that his
> govt has jailed people for political reasons, saying govt opponents
> were incarcerated for breaking the law.
>
> “There is a law—the law is bad, the law is harsh, but it is the law,”
> he said. “You have to follow it. If you have broken the law, you will
> be held responsible according to the law.”
>
> Pavel Sapelko, a lawyer for Viasna, said that although Friday’s sentencing was “a serious wound” for Viasna, it wouldn’t deter the group from continuing to fight.
>
> “We will not stop collecting evidence of the totalitarian regime’s
> crimes, speaking the truth about the human rights situation in
> Belarus, and supporting the victims whose rights and freedoms have
> been violated,” he said in a statement.
>
> https://www.wsj.com/articles/nobel-laureate-and-activist-ales-bialiatski-sentenced-to-10-years-in-belarusian-prison-8bc0fe26

Your lack of quoting laws he broken *according to the court* does not
add credibility to your "political sentencing" assumption.
It is trivial to convince already convinced.

IMHO It is "more than quite likely" political sentencing but _minimal_
standards of reporting should be preserved anyway. Even how hard they
tried to mask it would make quite significant difference.

"Lukashenka isn't only a son of a bitch, but he isn't our son of a bitch"

Could you quite the highest sentence for Occupy Wall Street activist in USA?
[Or Capitol Coffee Party] Could we assume that "they had to be"
political?

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Demosthenes
> "Delivery, delivery, delivery."
> Response when asked to name the three most important components of
> rhetoric
> Demosthenes (384 BC - 322 BC)

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