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MINSK — Belarusian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Byalyatski has been sentenced to 10 years in prison on smuggling and tax-evasion charges that rights defenders and Western governments have called politically motivated retribution by longtime authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

The Vyasna (Spring) human rights center in Minsk said the Lenin district court on March 3 also sentenced Byalyatski’s co-defendants in the case — Valyantsin Stefanovich and Uladzimer Labkovich — to nine years and seven years, respectively.

A fourth defendant, Zmitser Salauyou, who was tried in absentia, was sentenced to eight years in prison.

The men, who went on trial in early January, have denied the accusations of bringing money into Belarus for “illegal activities and financing” Vyasna, of which Byalyatski is the chairman.

The sentencing sparked immediate reaction from several Western governments and rights groups, with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock calling the proceedings a “farce” that judged the four men “simply for their years-long fight for the rights, …