maria kolesnikova is the most prominent opposition leader left in the country. you can see her here, addressing reporters last year. she has spent the last ten months in custody awaiting trial, along with maksim znak, who is a lawyer for the opposition. you can see them both here at their trial today. let s get more from sarah rainsford outside the courtroom in minsk. we were outside the court this morning, just as the trial began, but we weren t allowed inside. the only people allowed to wear the lawyers themselves. there was a small group of supporters and family members of both maria kolesnikova. they re accused of plotting to overthrow the state and another national security charge. that s why the officials here are saying the trial is closed, but what the family and friends have told us as they
UK Ambassador Neil Bush delivers a statement on behalf of 37 OSCE participating States to call for the release of over 1,000 political prisoners in Belarus.
Maryya Kalesnikava, a leading opposition activist in Belarus who was sentenced to 11 years in prison in September, has been transferred to a penal colony for women in Homel, a town 300 kilometers southeast of the capital, Minsk.
Sergei Tikhanovsky, the husband of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the leader of the Belarusian democratic opposition, was on December 14 sentenced to 18 years in a maximum security prison by a court in Minsk.