KYIV, Ukraine—The Supreme Court in Belarus on Tuesday sentenced a former contender in the 2020 presidential race to 14 years in prison on corruption charges in a case that has been widely seen as politically motivated.
Viktor Babariko, the former chief executive of a Russia-owned bank, aspired to challenge Belarus’s authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko, in last year’s election. But Babariko was arrested two months before the August 2020 vote. His arrest drew thousands of protesters to the streets. At the time, he was widely perceived as a top contender in the race.
