A court in Belarus has sentenced opposition activist Lyudmila Ramanovich to 18 months in prison for a letter she sent to the Investigative Committee in early March protesting Belarus's involvement in Russia's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
The Maloryta district court in western Belarus sentenced Ramanovich on June 20 after finding her guilty of "insulting" the country’s authoritarian ruler, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, by calling him a "usurper" in her letter, the Minsk-based Vyasna human rights center said on Telegram.
Lukashenka and his government have been internationally isolated since he claimed to have won a sixth presidential term in a disputed presidential poll in August 2020, sparking unprecedented protests followed by a brutal crackdown on dissent that prompted Western sanctions.
Lukashenka has since faced domestic and international backlash for allowing Russian troops to stage part of the invasion of Ukraine on Belarusian territory.
