Belarus hands lengthy prison terms to 18 participants of 2020 protests

By YURAS KARMANAU
Associated Press

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A court in Belarus on Wednesday has handed lengthy prison terms to 18 participants of mass anti-government protests that shook the country in 2020, the latest step in a brutal years-long effort to stifle all and any dissent. Sentences handed to the demonstrators on Wednesday ranged from two to 25 years. Protests engulfed Belarus in the wake of the disputed presidential election in 2020 that handed authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko his sixth term in office. Both the Belarusian opposition and the West have denounced the vote as rigged. The authorities responded to the demonstration with a harsh crackdown, which has continued to this day, with the authorities targeting opposition activists, rights advocates and journalists.