MINSK -- The Supreme Court of Belarus has rejected appeals filed by Maryna Zolatava, the chief editor of the Tut.by news website, and its former director-general, Lyudmila Chekina, against the 12-year prison sentences they were handed in March on charges their supporters and human rights watchdogs call politically motivated.
The court said in a statement on July 31 that the sentences of the two journalists would now come into force.
The Minsk City Court sentenced Zolatava and Chekina as authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka's regime continues its crackdown on free speech and dissent following unrest sparked by a 2020 presidential election the opposition and Western governments say was rigged.
Three other defendants in the case, journalists Volha Loyka, Alena Talkachova, and Katsyaryna Tkachenka, have fled Belarus.
The Crisis In Belarus
Read our coverage as Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka continues his brutal crackdown on NGOs, activists, and independent media following the August 2020 presidential election.
Chekina and Zolatava were found guilty of tax evasion, organizing activities aimed at inciting racial, ethnic, religious, or social hatred, and public calls through the media and Internet aimed at damaging the national security of Belarus.
Belarusian authorities shut down Tut.by in May 2021 after police searched the website's offices and its employees' homes and arrested more than a dozen of its staff.
Belarusian authorities have stepped up their repression of journalists and bloggers after mass protests followed the August 2020 presidential election, which Lukashenka claims he won.
Outrage over what was seen by both the opposition and the general public as a rigged vote to hand Lukashenka a sixth term in office brought tens of thousands onto the streets to protest the outcome.
Security officials have cracked down hard on the demonstrators, arresting thousands, including dozens of representatives of democratic institutions and journalists who covered the rallies, and pushing most of the top opposition figures out of the country.
The European Union, United States, Canada, and other countries have refused to recognize Lukashenka, 68, as the legitimate leader of Belarus and have slapped him and senior Belarusian officials with sanctions in response to the "falsification" of the vote and postelection crackdown.