BELARUSIAN YOUTH FACE TWO YEARS IN PRISON FOR MOCKING LUKASHENKA

The Prosecutor's Office in the town of Shklou, Mahileu Oblast, has opened a criminal case against five members of the local branch of the unregistered youth movement Zubr on charges of defaming the president, Belapan reported on 15 August. Dzmitryy Shalashkou, Mikhail Kisyalyou, Dzyanis Senakosau, Alyaksandr Paulovich, and Mikhail Patupchyk are accused of having paraded on 14 August through the Haradzets state farm, which was once managed by President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, dressed as four white-coated doctors in pursuit of a mustachioed Lukashenka look-alike. The alleged Lukashenka impersonator kept stopping passersby to ask "Do you know me? I'm your old boss. I'm back!" The fake doctors then approached the passersby and asked "Have you seen our patient? He has escaped from a mental hospital!" If found guilty, the five face up to two years in prison.