Artsiom Sokal

sentenced to 1 1/2 years in prison

Date of birth: 21 March 1998

Date of detention: 9 September 2021

Charges indicted:

Art. 368 of the Criminal Code — Insulting the President of the Republic of Belarus
Art. 367 of the Criminal Code — Slander against the President of the Republic of Belarus

Sentence: 1 1/2 years

Penalty: imprisonment in a general-security penal colony

Date of release: 3 March 2023

Judge: Natallia Budnik

Prosecutor: Vasil Dziashko

Artsiom Sokal was sentenced to one year and six months in a penal colony under Part 1 of Article 367 (slander against the president) and Part 1 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code (insulting the president) for distributing a message in a Telegram chat.

Under the charge, on August 20, 2020, Sokal, wishing to harm the authority of the state by spreading deliberately false, untrue fabrications discrediting the president, discrediting his honor and dignity, using a mobile phone posted information in a Telegram chat mimicking a police search bulletin with a photo of Lukashenka containing "ethnic information" regarding him.

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