A Catholic activist in Belarus handed a 3-year sentence amid continuing crackdown

By YURAS KARMANAU
Associated Press

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A Catholic activist in Belarus has been handed a three-year prison sentence on charges that Western diplomats have denounced as politically driven, the latest move in the authorities’ sweeping crackdown on the country’s civil society. Thirty-three-year-old Uladzislau Beladzed taught the catechism at the city’s Cathedral of the Holy Name of the Saint Virgin Mary. He was convicted on charges of insulting the president and inciting social discord and sentenced Friday. Beladzed actively participated in protests sparked by a 2020 vote that handed another term to Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko and was denounced by the opposition and the West as rigged.