Sdvizhkov was charged and found guilty of “incitement of religious hatred.”

"Clearly this is just a pretext to punish an independent journalist even after shutting down his publication," said Joel Simon, Executive Director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. "We call on the Belarusian authorities to immediately release Aleksandr Sdvizhkov."

Even Belarusian Islamic leader Ismail Voronovich said he wanted authorities to reprimand the journalist, not jail him.

"I thought that this case was closed and the newspaper was back working," The Associated Press quoted Voronovich as saying today.

Seems like this is more of a case of restraints on press freedom than it is about editorial choices over the publication of the Muhammad cartoons.

Source: Ifex.org