Prison sentence against Belarusian opposition activist Sofia Sapega

Political prisoner Sofia Sapega receives a long prison sentence. Her partner Roman Protasewitsch is still awaiting trial.

Russian Sofia Sapega was sentenced to six years in prison in Grodno.

Belta/Reuters

(dpa) Almost a year after the forced landing of a Ryanair plane in Minsk, one of the two opposition activists arrested by Belarusian authorities has now been sentenced to six years in prison, according to civil rights activists. “A harsh sentence has been handed down against the political prisoner Sofia Sapega: six years in prison and a fine of 167,500 rubles,” the civil rights center “Vyazna” (“Spring”) announced on its website on Friday.

Sapega is the girlfriend of the Belarusian government critic and blogger Roman Protasevich. They were on a flight from Athens to Vilnius together in May 2021 when the Belarusian authorities forced the Ryanair plane to land in Minsk because of an alleged bomb threat. Protasevich and Sapega were arrested. The EU blocked Belarusian airspace because of the forced landing and imposed a flight ban on airlines from the country.

The Belarusian authorities accuse Sapega of hate speech, calls for violence and murder as well as defamation against representatives of the authorities, the police and the judiciary.

According to media reports, there is still a trial going on against Protasevich. The former editor-in-chief of the opposition Telegram channel “Nexta” appeared several times on Belarusian state television after his arrest, in which he distanced himself from his opposition activities, among other things. Relatives assume that he made his statements under pressure.

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