FILES) In this file photo taken on February 17, 2021 opposition politician and banker Viktor Babaryko, charged with corruption and money laundering, is seen from inside a defendants’ cage during the opening day of his trial in Minsk. – One of Belarus’s leading opposition figures on Monday denied any wrongdoing as he addressed the court in a trial that may see him jailed for 15 years on fraud charges.
Babaryko was accused of receiving bribes and “laundering funds obtained by criminal means” when he was head of Belgazprombank, the Belarusian branch of a bank belonging to Russian energy giant Gazprom. Seven other defendants in the case, including several Belgazprombank executives, are being prosecuted on the charges.They all pleaded guilty and are facing more lenient sentences of between three and six-and-a-half years.Several key opposition figures were arrested in Belarus last year ahead of the presidential vote, clearing the way for Lukashenko, 66, to secure a sixth term.
The leader of Babaryko’s presidential campaign, Maria Kolesnikova, and his lawyer Maxim Znak are also in custody and have been charged with “conspiracy to seize power”, Belarusian prosecutors said last Friday.