Poland condemns Belarusian verdicts on dissidents

Poland has condemned the sentencing by a Belarusian court of opposition leaders Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya and Pavel Latushko to 15 and 18 years in prison, respectively.

Both sentences were passed in absentia. Tsikhanouskaya and Latushko both left Belarus to avoid further persecution by the regime of Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian president.

Łukasz Jasina, spokesperson for the Polish foreign ministry, told PAP that Poland condemns the sentences "just as we condemn every sentence passed in violation of international principles."

Tsikhanouska attracted world attention for participating in Belarus's 2020 presidential election, in which she is said to have defeated Lukashenko. However, the official exit polls gave the election to Lukashenko with over 80 percent of the vote.

The election result, commonly believed to have been rigged, provoked mass demonstrations across the country, which were brutally suppressed by the security forces.

Latushko, a close associate of Tsikhanouskaya, is a former Belarusian culture minister.