Belarusian Court Rejects Appeal To Release Jailed Ex-presidential Candidate

A Belarusian court rejected today an appeal for the release of former presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov, detained in December for taking part in an anti-governmental riot.
Sannikov is being held on charges of organizing mass unrest and faces up to 15 years in prison if found guilty.
Other opposition candidates arrested in the post-election protest have been released from custody.
Sannikov’s wife, Irina Khalip, a journalist for the Belarusian branch of Russia’s liberal Novaya Gazeta paper, was also detained but released in late January.
More than 600 protesters including 11 Russians were detained following the protests, which were fired by allegations of vote rigging in presidential elections that saw long-standing President Alexander Lukashenko win a landslide victory to secure a fourth term in office.
Human Rights Watch released a report in March detailing hundreds of cases of torture and inhumane treatment of jailed protesters.