MINSK -- Three more Belarusian activists who were arrested for allegedly damaging railways in the country to disrupt the supply of Russian arms and troops to Ukraine have been sentenced in the eastern city of Mahilyou.
The Mahilyou regional court on February 10 sentenced Dzmitry Klimau and Uladzimer Auramtsau to 22 years in prison each. The two were found guilty of high treason, conducting terrorist acts, and participating in terrorist activities. The third defendant, Yauhen Minkevich, was handed a suspended 18-month prison term on charge of not reporting a potential crime.
The activists were among some 60 people arrested for their alleged involvement in damaging railways to impede the progress of Russian troops and arms to Ukraine as part of Moscow's ongoing unprovoked invasion launched in February last year.
The campaign, called the Railways War, was initiated in Belarus by a group called BYPOL, which unites former law enforcement officers who support opposition politicians. Those involved in the Railways War campaign have been nicknamed "railway guerrillas."
Several "railway guerrillas" already have been handed lengthy prison terms, and BYPOL in August was designated by the Supreme Court of Belarus as a terrorist organization.
A court in Minsk last month sentenced 40-year-old Vital Melnik to 13 years in a maximum-security prison after finding him guilty of terrorism, possessing illegal firearms, premeditated damage to state property, and publicly insulting the country's authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
Belarus is not a direct participant in the war in Ukraine, but it has provided logistical support to Russia for the invasion by allowing Russian forces to enter Ukraine via Belarusian territory.
Western nations have slapped Belarus, like Russia, with an ever-increasing list of financial sanctions in response to the Kremlin's war on Ukraine and for Belarus’s efforts to aid the Russian invasion.
