(Reuters) – A court in Belarus has sentenced exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya to 15 years in prison in absentia, the state news agency Belta reported on Monday.
Tsikhanouskaya, 40, fled Belarus after running for the presidency in 2020 against veteran leader Alexander Lukashenko. The election was followed by mass protests after the opposition accused Lukashenko of electoral fraud, something he denied.
Tsikhanouskaya, whose supporters have dismissed the charges against her as a meaningless farce, was put on trial in absentia for treason charges in January.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
