Belarus to begin trial of Nobel Prize-winning rights defender

FILE PHOTO: Belarusian human rights activist Ales Byalyatski meets journalists and supporters after being released from prison and arriving at a railway station in Minsk, Belarus, June 21, 2014. REUTERS/Marina Serebryakova/File Photo

(Reuters) - Belarus is set to begin the trial on Thursday of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Byalyatski who faces up 12 years in jail, a court in Minsk said, in a case that his allies see as political retribution for his rights work.

The 60-year-old, who co-founded the Viasna-1996 human rights group, is one of the most prominent of hundreds of Belarusians who were jailed during a violent crackdown on anti-government protests that erupted in the summer of 2020.