Фото: Вясна
At the end of November, the Homel Regional Court delivered a verdict against spouses Stanislau Machalau and Sviatlana Yakubovich under Part 2 of Article 361-4 (“Propaganda of Extremist Activities Committed Repeatedly or by a Group of Persons”) of the Criminal Code.
According to the Viasna Human Rights Centre, Machalau was sentenced to four years in a high-security prison colony, while Yakubovich received five years in a general-security colony.
The couple were detained at the end of October 2024. They married in prison during Machalau’s first imprisonment in 2022.
In spring 2021, he was sentenced to three years in a prison colony, including for participating in protests. He was released in December 2023, but was detained again a year later.