A Belarusian courtroom has sentenced a journalist to greater than eight years in jail for reporting on mass opposition protests in 2020.
Katerina Bakhvalova -- identified professionally as Katsiaryna Andreeva -- was discovered responsible of "state treason" on Wednesday.
In a trial held behind closed doorways within the metropolis of Gomel, the 28-year-old was jailed for eight years and three months. She is already serving a two-year jail sentence after a earlier conviction.
The sentence was reported by her employer -- Polish information outlet Belsat -- and varied human rights teams in Belarus.
Andreeva was arrested in November 2020 whereas filming a protest in opposition to the regime of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
She was discovered responsible of organising riots and alongside her colleague Daria Chultsova in February 2021. A couple of months later, Belsat was declared an "extremist" organisation by Belarus.
"It makes me so indignant to see the regime take revenge on those that dare to withstand," exiled Belarusian opposition chief Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya stated on Twitter.
"Journalist Katsiaryna Andreeva ... dared to point out the reality in regards to the regime's brutality to the world."
In a assertion, Amnesty Worldwide has additionally condemned Andreeva's trial as "political" and "a sham".
The NGO's director for Europe and Central Asia, Marie Struthers, condemned a "new horrible and unjust verdict" in opposition to a "brave" journalist.
"Katerina Andreeva and different critics of the Belarusian authorities, who've been imprisoned merely for peacefully exercising their proper to freedom of expression, have to be launched instantly," she added.
In accordance with the NGO Viasna, a complete of 1,260 individuals are at the moment imprisoned in Belarus since opposition protests broke out following Lukashenko's disputed re-election.
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