MINSK, May 7. /TASS/. Four administrators of the "Army with the people" Telegram Channel and one member of the unregistered Belarusian Social Democratic Party were sentenced to various prison terms over mass riots and obstruction to the work of the Central Electoral Commission, Belarusian Attorney General’s Office announced Friday.
"Considering the evidence, provided by the state prosecution, the Minsk Regional Court made an accusative sentence. Based on the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus, [the defendants] were sentenced to imprisonment between 4 years and 6 months to 5 years and 6 months," the Office said on its website.
The Office disclosed that the defendants were charged with organization of mass riots, accompanied with violence, arson, pogroms, destruction of property and armed resistance to law enforcement, as well as teaching these actions to other people.
Additionally, a trustee of Belarusian opposition figure Nikolai Statkevich was charged with conspiracy alongside blogger Sergey Tikhanovsky in order to obstruct the operation of the Central Electoral Commission. This defendant was sentenced to six years in prison.
"The defendants did not acknowledge their guilt during the hearing," the Office said.
The sentence has not entered effect yet and could be appealed, it added.
On August 9, presidential elections took place in Belarus, with Alexander Lukashenko winning with 80.1% of the vote. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya came second, with 10.12% of support. She refused to recognize the outcome and left the country. After the election result was announced, mass protests engulfed Belarus, which initially led to clashes with the law enforcement officers. Minor local protests continue to this day.