Son of jailed Belarusian presidential hopeful handed 8-year sentence

By YURAS KARMANAU
Associated Press

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — The son of a jailed Belarusian presidential hopeful has been convicted and sentenced on charges that he and other activists rejected as trumped up. The Minsk District Court sentenced Eduard Babaryka, 34 to eight years in prison on charges of “organizing mass riots” and “inciting hatred,” the accusations he denied. He is the son of Viktar Babaryka, an aspiring presidential candidate who sought to challenge Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko in a 2020 election but was denied registration for the race and later handed a 14-year prison sentence. Lukashenko’s re-election was rejected as fraudulent by the opposition and the West and fueled massive protests, to which Belarusian authorities responded with a brutal crackdown.