In the wake of the disputed 2020 election, thousands took to the streets to protest against Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko. Four people have been jailed for offenses committed during the unrest.
Thousands of protesters expressed their frustration with the election resultImage: AP Photo/picture alliance
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A Belarusian court on Wednesday sentenced four anti-government protesters to between 18 and 20 years in prison for terrorism and arms trafficking offenses.
The state-run BelTa news agency said the four individuals were members of an anarchist group that had set fire to police cars and had thrown a Molotov cocktail at an administrative building.
The quartet were arrested in October 2020 near the Belarus-Ukraine border. They have since been held in a jail run by the KGB security service.
Western doubts over Lukashenko's legitimacy
The incident occurred as thousands of people took to the streets to protest against Alexander Lukashenko, who had just retained power following the disputed election in August 2020.
The European Union has imposed sanctions on Minsk after it cried foul over the nationwide ballot, a suggestion Lukashenko, who has led Belarus for almost three decades, has always refuted.
Since the uprising, Lukashenko has used the courts and the police to systematically repress his opponents and critics by locking them up for long periods or forcing them abroad.
Viasna, a local rights group, says there are currently 942 political prisoners in Belarus.
Vladimir Putin: The road to power
Vladimir Putin has just been elected to a fourth term. A look at the Russian president's rise from low-level KGB agent to unstoppable political force — by whatever means necessary.
Image: picture-alliance/Russian Look
KGB cadet
Born in St.Petersburg in 1952, Putin signed up with the Soviet intelligence agency the KGB right out of law school in 1975. His first assignment was to monitor foreign nationals and consulate employees in his home city, then called Leningrad. He was then assigned to Dresden, East Germany. He reportedly burned hundreds of KGB files after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Putin was one of the deputies to St Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak from 1991 to 1996. Sobchak met Putin at Leningrad State University and the two men were close until Sobchak's death in 2000. Despite accusations of corruption, Sobchak was never charged.
Image: Imago/ITAR-TASS
Meteoric rise
Putin quickly leapt from St.Petersburg to Moscow. In 1997, President Boris Yeltsin gave Putin a mid-level position on his staff — a position Putin would use to cultivate important political friendships that would serve him in the decades to come.
Image: picture alliance/AP Images
Death of a friend
Putin was deeply affected by Anatoly Sobchak's death in 2000. After the apprentice outstripped his teacher politically, Sobchak became a vocal early proponent of Putin's bid for the presidency. A year earlier, Putin used his political connections to have fraud allegations against Sobchak dropped, the beginning of a pattern for friends of the former spy.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Chirikov
Temporary president
In June 2000, Boris Yeltsin stepped down, leaving his prime minister to become interim leader. As he was running for his successful presidential campaign, corruption allegations from his time on the city government in St.Petersburg resurfaced. Marina Salye, the lawmaker who brought up the claims, was silenced and forced to leave the city.
Image: Imago/ITAR-TASS
Tandemocracy
When Putin was constitutionally barred from running for a third consecutive term in 2008, his Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ran in his stead. When Medvedev was elected, he appointed Putin as premier. This led to criticism of a "tandemocracy," in Moscow, with many people believing that Medvedev was Putin's puppet.
Image: Imago/ITAR-TASS
Victory
In March 2018, Vladimir Putin was elected to his fourth term as president. Because the presidential term has been extended, this means Putin will be in power for the next six years. However, the election was marred by a lack of opposition to the incumbent, as well as allegations of vote tampering and ballot-stuffing.
Image: Reuters/D. Mdzinarishvili
Putin pushes for constitutional reform
Less than two years after his latest election victory, Putin unexpectedly announced sweeping constitutional changes that prompted his most loyal ally, Dmitry Medvedev, to resign. He was replaced by little-known Mikhail Mishustin (R). Soon after that, Putin hinted he was willing to run again when his current term expires in 2024.
