Belarus Sends Reporter to Prison Over Deleted Chat Messages

KYIV, UKRAINE - A court in Belarus convicted a journalist of insulting the president in messages in a deleted chat group and sentenced him to 1 1/2 years in prison, the Belarusian Association of Journalists said Monday. 

The verdict in the case against Siarhei Hardziyevich, 50, comes as part of a massive crackdown that Belarusian authorities have unleashed on independent media and human rights activists.  Hardziyevich on Monday was found guilty of insulting the president and slandering police officers, according to the association. The court sentenced him to a prison term and a $1,600 fine.  The charges against the journalist from Drahichyn, a city 300 kilometers (185 miles) southwest of Belarus' capital of Minsk, were brought over messages in a chat group on the messaging app Viber which was deleted last year.