"Expressed hostility for law enforcement officers." Siarhei Treshchanka sentenced to 3 years in prison for commenting a video

On 24 June, Homieĺ Regional Court sentenced Siarhei Treshchanka to 3 years of imprisonment. He was accused of inciting social enmity or discord under part 1 of article 130 of the Criminal Code. The defendant was detained on March 24, 2021 and has been kept in custody ever since. He pleaded guilty in court.

According to the indictment, Siarhei Treshchanka, sharing the ideas of social intolerance towards officials and other social groups, expressing open hostility towards the law enforcement officers of the Republic of Belarus, on September 24, 2020 intentionally posted a link to the video "Artificial intelligence removes masks of the riot police" on his personal page at VKontakte with a comment:

"Guys, scrub all the money from all the accounts of these scums, apply for loans on their behalf, and transfer the money to orphanages, large families, low-income people, all those in need. That would be the bomb!"

According to the state prosecutor, this commentary was a statement of an inflammatory nature, calling for actions aimed at causing harm by one group of people - young people living in Belarus - to another group of people, "law enforcement officers". The posted video with the commentary was viewed by at least 101 users.