MOSCOW, July 5 (RAPSI) – The Supreme Court of Belarus has ordered Sergey Rovneiko, ex-aide to the country’s president Alexander Lukashenko, to be imprisoned for 12 years for receiving bribes, according to the information published on the court’s website Friday.

Additionally, the court has forfeited the defendant’s assets.

According to the Committee for State Security of Belarus, then presidential aide was arrested red-handed when extorting and taking a $200,000 bribe in May 2018.

The court has also given 2 years in prison to businessman Dmitry Tikhomolov for giving bribes.

The hearings have been held behind closed doors; the sentences have become effective, the statement reads.