Journalist Iryna Khalip, wife of former presidential candidate Andrey Sannikaw, was given a suspended two-year prison sentence with two years’ probation in a trial that ended in the Zavodski District Court in Minsk on May 16.
In the same trial, Pavel Sevyarynets, the former campaign manager of presidential candidate Vital Rymashewski, received a three-year "restricted freedom" term in an open-type correctional institution, while Syarhey Martsalew, the former campaign manager of presidential candidate Mikalay Statkevich, was given a suspended two-year prison sentence with two years’ probation.
Judge Zhanna Brysina found the trio guilty of "the organization and preparation of actions that are in gross violation of public order or active participation in them" in connection with a post-election protest staged in Minsk on December 19, 2010.
Ms. Khalip and Messrs. Martsalew and Sevyarynets were released in the courtroom.
On April 4, the police reduced the severity of the charge against Messrs. Martsalew and Sevyarynets and Ms. Khalip.
They were initially charged with organizing "mass disorder," an offense that carries up to 15 years in prison.
Messrs. Martsalew and Sevyarynets had been held in the KGB detention center since their arrest in the wake of the December 19 protest and Ms. Khalip was released from the jail and placed under house arrest on January 29.
