Nobel peace laureate transferred to brutal prison in Belarus, his wife says

By YURAS KARMANAU
Associated Press

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — The wife of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski says he’s been transferred to a notoriously brutal prison in Belarus and hasn’t been heard from in a month. Natalia Pinchuk told The Associated Press that Bialiatski has been kept in an information blackout since his transfer to the N9 colony for repeat offenders in the city of Gorki. Inmates there are beaten and subject to hard labor. In March, a court sentenced Bialiatski — Belarus’ top human rights advocate and one of the winners of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize — to 10 years in prison. It was the latest move in a years-long crackdown on dissent that has engulfed Belarus since 2020.