Yulia Chigir, a 46-year-old lawyer, was sentenced to two years in prison. The court, sitting in the capital Minsk, said Chigir would be on probation for the first year.

``I am not a criminal and will appeal against the sentence,'' Chigir told reporters after the trial.

Chigir, the wife of former Prime Minister Mikhail Chigir, bit a policeman's ear in May during an altercation outside a court where her husband was on trial for corruption.

She said she bit the policeman after he manhandled her. Medical evidence showed that the policeman required stitches.

``In this 'democratic' country I am facing two years in prison for merely trying to lead my sons to an open trial which was to pronounce a sentence on their father,'' Chigir said.