Aliaksandr Patapau
Date of birth: 9 October 1954
Date of detention: 25 August 2022
Charges indicted:
Art. 368 of the Criminal Code — Insulting the President of the Republic of Belarus
Sentence: 2 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a general-security penal colony
Judge: Natallia Tratsiakova
Prosecutor: Natallia Barysenka
Prison: Penal colony No. 15
Aliaksandr Patapau was detained in late August 2022 as part of a criminal case under Article 368 of the Criminal Code for ‘insulting the president’ in comments on Odnoklassniki social media.
Aliaksandr's niece was reportedly killed and her three-year-old daughter was seriously injured during the missile attack on Kyiv. In the emotion of the moment, on July 8 and 16, 2022 Aliaksander posted two comments on the social media, which the expert examination deemed "insulting".
On 16 November 2022 Judge Natallia Tratsiakova found Aliaksandr Patapau guilty and sentenced him to two years of imprisonment.