Siarhei Lialin
Former political prisoner
Date of birth: 1 July 1971
Date of detention: 11 July 2022
Charges indicted:
- Art. 369 of the Criminal Code — Insulting a government official
- 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
Date of release: 20 May 2024
Judge: Volha Serakova
Cases: Protests in Minsk
Notes: Retirement age
Groups: The military
Siarhei Lialin is a retired military officer with the rank of lieutenant colonel. It is known that he participated in the protests — he was detained at the Sunday march on November 8, 2020. Aliaksandr Lukashenka stripped Lialin of his military rank.
On July 11, 2022, he was found guilty of insulting the president (Part 1 of Art. 368 of the Criminal Code) and insulting a government official (Art. 369 of the Criminal Code).
The judge of the Babruisk District and City Court, Volha Serakova, handed down a sentence of 12 months of imprisonment in a penal colony.
At the end of November, the judicial panel on criminal cases of the Mahiliou Regional Court considered and satisfied the Babruisk district prosecutor's move to change the sentence. The final punishment term was increased to 24 months of imprisonment in a penal colony.
