Nobel laureate calls for national reconciliation at trial in Belarus

FILE PHOTO: Belarusian human rights activist Ales Byalyatski meets with journalists and his supporters, after he was released from prison and arrived at a railway station in Minsk, Belarus, June 21, 2014. REUTERS/Marina Serebryakova

KYIV (Reuters) - Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Byalyatski called for "national reconciliation" between the Belarus authorities and opposition on Monday, in his final statement at a trial he said was politically motivated.

Byalyatski, 60, faces up to 12 years in jail at the trial in Minsk in which he and three others face charges of financing protests and smuggling money into Belarus. All deny the charges.