2 Belarusian journalists sentenced to prison in a closed-door trial, rights group says

TALLINN, Estonia -- Two Belarusian journalists working for news outlets that the government of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko has declared extremist have been sentenced to prison, the country's leading human rights group said Thursday.

The convictions in a closed-door trial are the latest in a persistent crackdown on dissent and independent journalism. The severe repression began when huge protests arose after the disputed 2020 presidential election that gave Lukashenko a sixth term in office.

More than 35,000 people have been arrested in the crackdown. Many prominent opposition figures have fled the country and others have been sentenced to long prison terms.

The rights group Viasna says there are nearly 1,400 political prisoners currently in Belarus.

Reporter Ales Sabaleuski was sentenced on Wednesday to four years and cameraman Yauhen Hlushkou to three by the court in the city of Mogilev, Viasna said. They were convicted of participating in foreign military actions, but further details were not available.

They worked with two Belarusian media operations that have been banned as extremist but that continue to work from abroad.