Belarus refuses to free jailed rights leader

(MINSK) - A Belarus court on Tuesday upheld the conviction and four-and-a-half year jail sentence of a top human rights leader whose arrest was based on the unwitting cooperation of two European Union states.

Minsk City Court ruled on appeal that Vyasna (Spring) organisation leader Ales Beliatsky should stay behind bars, even though he had paid the fine portion of his penalty for tax evasion.

The same court in November used bank account information provided by Lithuania and Poland under a security cooperation agreement with Belarus to detain Beliatsky and find him guilty of hiding income he made abroad.

Both countries later said they provided the information without realising that it concerned the head of the Vyasna organisation. The group is banned in Belarus and forced to keep its main offices and bank accounts in Europe.

Beliatsky's attorney Dmitry Layevsky told AFP that he planned to appeal the decision in the supreme court of Belarus. Vyasna received funding from EU organisations as well some European governments.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has used the trial to bolster his allegations that European nations have been trying to organise local opposition groups in a bid to overthrow the current authorities and win control of the country's industries.

The struggling ex-Soviet republic has turned into one of the world's most isolated states under the nearly 18-year leadership of Lukashenko, who was once dubbed the last dictator of Europe by the United States.

Belarus currently faces sanctions and travel restrictions from both the EU and the United States.