The President of Belarus pardoned the Russian woman Sapega, who was convicted along with the founder of the extremist Telegram channel Protasevich
Citizen of the Russian Federation Sofia Sapega, previously sentenced to six years in prison in Belarus, was pardoned by a decree of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. This was announced in his Telegram channel by the Governor of Primorsky Krai Oleg Kozhemyako.
As the head of the Russian region noted, yesterday Lukashenka decided to pardon Sofia Sapieha. The Russian woman was detained at the end of May 2021 on board a Ryanair aircraft flying from Athens to Vilnius. Together with Sapega, her friend Roman Protasevich, the founder of the Nexta Telegram channel recognized as extremist, was on the plane.
The plane was urgently landed at the Minsk airport due to a report of mining, after which Protasevich and Sapieha were detained and arrested by the Belarusian special services. In 2022, the Grodno Regional Court sentenced Sophia Sapega to six years in a penal colony on charges of inciting social hatred and illegal collection of information about the private life of employees of the Belarusian law enforcement agencies, state authorities and the judiciary.
In April 2023, the Belarusian authorities agreed to transfer Sapega to the Russian Federation to continue serving his sentence. Then, on May 16, 2023, Lukashenka signed a decree pardoning Protasevich, who had previously been sentenced to eight years in prison. After the pardon of Protasevich, the question of a similar measure in relation to Sofia Sapieha was already purely technical.
Recall that after his arrest and conviction, Protasevich renounced his opposition views and now declares that he will not leave Belarus, is grateful to President Alexander Lukashenko and wants to work for the good of his country.
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