Ales Bialiatski, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of the Viasna human rights center, was sentenced to 10 years in prison along with three other activists. This has been met with international condemnation, with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights calling it "a grave injustice" and the European Union expressing its concern over the violation of freedom of expression and assembly. This sentencing is seen as a major setback for the Belarusian human rights movement and a sign of the government's increasing crackdown on dissent.