Heorhi Vasilenka

entrepreneur, sentenced to 19 months of imprisonment, released after serving full sentence

Former prisoner

Date of birth: 24 November 1996

Date of detention: 5 February 2021

Charges indicted:

  • Part 2 of Art. 339 of the Criminal Code — Hooliganism committed by a group of persons
  • Art. 368 of the Criminal Code — Insulting the President of the Republic of Belarus

Sentence: 19 months

Penalty: imprisonment in a general-security penal colony

Date of release: 10 July 2023

Judge: Siarhei Salouski, Viktar Kazachak

Groups: Businessmen

Cases: Protests in Homieĺ

Heorhi Vasilenka is an entrepreneur from Homieĺ.

He was accused of replacing the official state red-green flag with a white-red-white one on Lienin Square in Homieĺ. The incident took place on August 16, 2022.

On November 26, in the Centraĺny District Court of Homieĺ, Judge Siarhei Salouski sentenced Heorhi Vasilenka to 24 months of restricted freedom in an open-type penal facility under Part 1 of Article 339 ('Hooliganism').

On February 15, 2022, Heorhi Vasilenka was arrested in the open-type penal facility, in which he was serving his sentence. In mid-April 2022, it became known that he was in remand prison #3 in Homieĺ.

On June 27, 2022, the Centraĺny District Court of Homieĺ found the political prisoner guilty of 'insulting the president of Belarus' (Part 1 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code). According to the indictment, while serving his sentence, Vasilenka posted messages containing obscene language referring to the president of Belarus in a chat room. Judge Viktar Kazachak sentenced him to 18 months in a general-security penal colony. Taking into account the previously served punishment, Heorhi Vasilenka had to spend 19 months behind bars.

In August 2022, Heorhi Vasilenka was transferred from remand prison #3 in Homieĺ to penal colony #5 in Ivacevičy, Brest region.

In mid-July 2023, the political prisoner was released having served his full sentence.

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.

2 years in prison for removing state flag: New trend of repression in Belarus

On November 26, entrepreneur Heorhi Vasilenka was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for replacing the official flag with a white-red-white one in Lenin Square in Homieĺ. The city’s Centraĺny District Court found him guilty under Part 2 of Article 339 of the Criminal Code (hooliganism).

 

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