A Belarusian court has found a gay activist who posed for a photo holding a poster guilty of violating public assembly laws in what Amnesty International has called an "absurd new low in persecuting peaceful LGBTI activists."

Amnesty said after a Minsk court issued the verdict on July 16 that a friend of Viktoria Biran took three photos of her standing in front of the Interior Ministry, the State Security Committee, and the House of Government buildings holding a piece of paper with the words “YOU are fake.”

CCTV recordings showed that it took three seconds for Biran and her friend to take the photos, which were later posted on social media, Amnesty said.

“Today's court ruling is simply absurd. Viktoria was ‘protesting’ for three seconds, and she was alone except for a friend who took the photos. It is just not conceivable that this can be taken seriously as a mass protest offense," said Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Read more via RFE/RL