Critical blogger’s son sentenced to three years of correctional labor

On July 18, the Court of Babruisk completed the trial of Aliaksei Zhalnou, son of a local blogger Aleh Zhalnou. Judge Yuliya Beraziuk sentenced the young man to three years in an open penal colony. Aliaksei Zhalnou will also have to pay a fine of 50 million rubles in damages. The plaintiff, a road policeman Aliaksandr Butouski, asked to recover from Zhalnou 100 million rubles, and the prosecutor demanded four years in a penal colony as a punishment for the blogger’s son. Aliaksei Zhalnou has ten days to appeal the verdict.

An aggravating factor in the case of Aliaksei Zhalnou could be his previous conviction. The young man said that it was because of this fact in his biography that he was targeted by the traffic police in order to avenge his father. Aliaksei insists on his innocence.

Aliaksei Zhalnou’s mother, Yauheniya, is also facing criminal charges under the same Article 364, “violence or the threat of violence against employees of the Interior”.