In Belarus, a man was sentenced to two years in prison on charges of having "insulted" the despot Aleksandr Lukashenko and the mayor of Brest with two posts on the internet in 2021 and 2022. This was reported by the NGO for the defense of human rights Vesnà, specifying that, according to the public prosecution, Maksim Zaytsev would have called Lukashenko "a cornered animal".
The sentence is obviously believed to be of a political nature.
Lukashenko, known as "Europe's last dictator", has ruled Belarus since 1994 and is accused of very serious human rights violations.
Officially, he won the 2020 presidential election with 80% of the vote, but many believe that this result is the result of massive electoral fraud and for months there have been mass protests against the regime in Belarus.
Peaceful demonstrations have been repressed with truncheons and waves of arrests, and the police are also accused of torturing demonstrators.