Political prisoner convicted for white-red-white flag gets another term for insulting Lukashenka

On June 27, the Centraĺny District Court of Homieĺ convicted political prisoner Heorhi Vasilenka, who was accused of insulting the President of Belarus (Part 1, Article 368 of the Criminal Code).

Judge Viktar Kazachok considered the case.

Heorhi Vasilenka is an entrepreneur from Homieĺ. He was detained on February 5, 2021, and accused of hooliganism committed by a group of persons (Part 2 of Article 339 of the Criminal Code) for lowering the national flag from the flagpole and raising a white-red-white flag on the central square of the city on August 16, 2020. For this, he was sentenced to two years of restricted freedom in an open-type penitentiary.

On February 15, 2022, Heorhi was detained for the second time on the premises of the penitential facility. He was placed in pre-trial detention center pending trial.

According to the indictment, while serving his sentence in an open-type correctional facility, Vasilenka posted messages containing obscene language addressed to the President of the Republic of Belarus in a group chat. The prosecution claims that by this he belittled the authority, honor, and dignity of the President.

Heorhi fully admitted his guilt in the charges brought against him.

For insulting the president, the court sentenced Vasilenka to 18 months in a general-security penal colony. Taking into account the previously served punishment, he has to spend 17 months in jail.