Human rights activists handed prison terms in Belarus

By YURAS KARMANAU
Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A court in Belarus has handed prison sentences to two human rights activists, part of an ongoing crackdown on non-government organizations and independent media in the ex-Soviet nation. The court in the eastern city of Homiel on Wednesday sentenced 55-year-old Leanid Sudalenka to three years in prison and gave a 2 1/2-year sentence to 43-year-old Tatsiana Lasitsa on charges of organizing and financing actions violating the public order. Both have been in custody since their arrest more than nine months ago. Sudalenko has written from prison that the charges hinged on him meeting a colleague released from jail and helping a low-income farmer family to buy firewood — actions that investigators interpreted as organizing and funding protests.