Belarus presidential candidate jailed for five years

Source: Associated Press

A Belarussian presidential candidate has been sentenced to five years in prison following a trial that he denounced as political punishment for challenging the nation's authoritarian leader.

A district court in the Belarussian capital Minsk handed out the sentence to Andrei Sannikov after convicting him on charges of staging riots following December's presidential election.

Sannikov called the charges "absurd" in a statement before the verdict, which was condemned by the US and Britain.

"This is a political punishment for me as a presidential candidate who has formed a strong team of professionals and declared readiness to take charge of the country," he said.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/14/belarus-presidential-candidate-jailed

With Mugabe,too: