Russian Consul in Belarus met with convicted Russian Sophia Sapega. She consented to extradition to Russia, informed TASS Press Secretary of the Russian Embassy Alexei Maskalev.
He said that the embassy sent a request to the Belarusian authorities to visit several Russians imprisoned on the territory of the republic. “As soon as the corresponding authorization was issued by the Belarusian authorities, our consul visited Sofia Sapega on Monday, April 10,” Moskalev said.
The press officer noted that during the meeting with Sapega, “they gave consent to his extradition to Russia for possible additional punishment already on the territory of the Russian Federation.”
“The next step, including the technical details of the extradition procedure, is being handled by Russian and Belarusian law enforcement agencies,” Maskalev added.
Sofia Sapega was born in 1998 in Vladivostok. As a child, she moved with her mother to Belarus, but has Russian citizenship.
In May 2021, Sapega was detained at Minsk airport together with Roman Protasevich, ex-editor of the Belarusian opposition telegram channel NEXTA. The couple flew from Athens to Vilnius, but the plane made an emergency landing in Minsk after a bomb threat on board was reported, which was later unconfirmed.
Sapega was accused of being the administrator of the Black Book of Belarus telegram channel, which published the personal data of security officials who dispersed mass protests after presidential elections in the republic. The authorities have recognized the Telegram channel as extremist.
In May 2022, the Grodno Regional Court, in a closed trial, sentenced Sapega to six years in prison. She was found guilty of inciting social hatred and disseminating information constituting the personal and family secrets of others. In June of the same year, Sapieha wrote a request for clemency addressed to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, but it was refused. The presidential administration explained that the girl had not served half of her term.
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