The Belarusian opposition activist who was arrested in 2021 after the federal government of Belarus pressured his business flight that was transiting its airspace to land has been sentenced to eight years in jail.
Roman Protasevich, 27, was the editor of the Nexta channel on the Telegram messaging app, which was instrumental in organizing widespread protests towards President Alexander Lukashenko after his disputed election victory in 2020.
The expenses towards Mr. Protasevich included organizing mass riots, calling for sanctions towards Belarus, creating an extremist group and conspiring to grab energy. Minsk District Court sentenced him to be incarcerated in a penal colony, in line with a report on Wednesday by Belta, the Belarusian state news company.
Like many activists, Mr. Protasevich fled into exile reasonably than endure the mass arrests and torture utilized by the Belarusian authorities to stamp out the protests.
In May 2021, Mr. Protasevich was on a Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania when a Belarusian MiG-29 fighter jet pressured the aircraft to land in Minsk. Security officers arrested him on the tarmac alongside together with his Russian girlfriend, Sofia Sapega.
Many human rights activists feared that he would face the dying penalty due to the extremism expenses towards him, and Western nations accused Belarus of finishing up a hijacking disguised as a bomb risk to divert the aircraft. The European Union imposed new sanctions towards Mr. Lukashenko, the nation’s authoritarian ruler since 1994, for the incident.
After he was arrested, Mr. Protasevich made a confession on state tv that included an apology for his actions, which his household mentioned had been pressured. His statements included reward for Mr. Lukashenko and an admission about in search of to topple him.
In May 2022, Ms. Sapega was sentenced to 6 years in jail for inciting discord. She is predicted to be extradited to Russia.
Source: www.nytimes.com