August 27, Pozirk. The Brest Regional Court has convicted Dźmitryj Šłethauer (name as received) of extremism and espionage, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported.
The human rights group said authorities usually press espionage charges against foreigners or stateless people.
The closed-door trial occurred a few months ago, but the Supreme Court website has not reported it, which is unusual. The sentence is unknown.
The Supreme Court will hear the appeal against the sentence on August 30.
According to Viasna, Belarus has sentenced three people on politically motivated charges of espionage since 2020: Polish national Tomasz Bieroza, and Ukrainian nationals Andrii Shmai and Nataliia Zakharenko.
On June 28, officials handed Zakharenko over to Ukraine under a prisoner swap.
In 2022–2023, Belarusian counterintelligence agents arrested 16 foreigners, according to Ivan Tertel, chairman of the Committee for State Security (KGB).
On June 24, the Minsk Regional Court sentenced German national Rico Krieger to death. The judge found him guilty of illegal handling of firearms; deliberate disabling of a vehicle or lines of communication; association with an extremist group; committing an act of terrorism; conducting covert operations; and mercenarism.
Alaksandar Łukašenka later pardoned Krieger, and authorities handed him over under a prisoner swap involving Russia and the United States.
Belarus is holding at least 25 nationals of Ukraine, Poland, Russia, Latvia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan in detention for political reasons, Viasna said in a report on July 1.
