Valiantsin Labachou
sentenced to 1 1/2 years of imprisonment, released
Date of birth: 15 May 1991
Date of detention: 11 October 2021
Charges indicted:
Art. 368 of the Criminal Code — Insulting the President of the Republic of Belarus
Sentence: 1 1/2 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a general-security penal colony
Date of release: 17 February 2023
Judge: Viktoryia Paliakova
Valiantsin Labachou from Mahilioŭ was sentenced to 18 months of imprisonment under Art. 368 of the Criminal Code ('Insulting the president of Belarus').
In June 2020, Valiantsin Labachou posted a picture in one of the banned Telegram channels with an inscription that was, according to the state prosecution, offensive to Aliaksandr Lukashenka. During the trial, the linguistic examination regarded the inscription in the picture ambiguously, without qualifying it directly as insulting Lukashenka's honor and dignity.
On March 23, 2022, the Ministry of Internal Affairs included Labachou in the 'List of citizens involved in extremist activities'.
He was kept in prison #4 in Mahilioŭ and then served his sentence in penal colony #1 in Navapolack.
On February 17, 2023, Valiantsin Labachou was released.