MINSK (AFP)-- A court in Belarus handed jail terms of between six months and two years Friday to four activists who tried to organize independent monitoring of March's presidential election.

The members of the Partnyorstvo election monitoring group, Timofei Dranchuk, Nikolai Astreiko, Enira Bronitskaya and Alexander Shalaiko, were found guilty of participating in an unregistered non-governmental organization leading to an infringement of citizens' rights.

Astreiko was sentenced to two years in jail, Dranchuk was sentenced to one year and both Enira Bronitskaya and Alexander Shalaiko were sentenced to six months.

The four have been in jail since they were detained on February 21 in the run-up to the March 19 election, in which President Alexander Lukashenko clinched a third term although observers alleged widespread ballot-rigging.

The hearings, which began at Minsk's Tsentralny court last week, were closed to the public, although activists, relatives and Western ambassadors were allowed in for the verdict.

Partyorstvo activists across the country were rounded up ahead of the election by armed security men wearing masks. Office equipment belonging to the organization was confiscated.