Local Businessman Being Tried In Zelva For ‘Insulting’ Lukashenka

While the man was in jail, his mother died.

On August 28, the criminal trial against Viktar Lameka began in the court of the Zelva district. He is accused under two articles of the Criminal Code: Part 2 of Article 367 (slander against Lukashenka) and Part 2 of Article 368 (insulting Lukashenka), writes Viasna.

A businessman from Zelva, political prisoner Viktar Lameka was brutally detained on March 29 and beaten during his arrest. Initially, a protocol was drawn up against him under the administrative article 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Belarus (dissemination of extremist materials).

Without even allowing Lameka to leave the courthouse, the security forces again detained him and again drew up a protocol under Article 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Belarus. When the man was in the pre-trial detention center, the third protocol was drawn up against him.

Later it became known that Lameka was in a pre-trial detention center, he was already charged under criminal articles. While the man was in jail, his mother died, Viasna Hrodna writes.

The man is held in the pre-trial detention center in the city of Baranavichy.

Viktar Lameka is known for having previously sued the tax authorities and defended entrepreneurs from the Hrodna region in courts of various instances.