Former editor of the Telegram channel NEXTA Roman Protasevich has been sentenced to eight years in prison in a case of plotting to seize state power in Belarus. This is reported by the Belarusian edition of BelTA.
Protasevich was also found guilty of organizing mass riots, public calls for terrorism, leading an extremist formation, slandering the country’s president and insulting him, as well as other crimes.
The other two defendants in the case, Yan Rudik and Stepan Putilo, were sentenced in absentia to 19 and 20 years in prison, respectively. Both are outside Belarus, only Protasevich was present in the courtroom.
According to the investigation, the defendants participated in a criminal plot to seize power in Belarus. The defendants called for the creation of conditions for the seizure of power and its transfer to opposition forces, participated in the organization of demonstrations and ensured the growth of protest moods in the republic. The prosecution estimated damage to the state from the protests at 31 million Belarusian rubles ($12.3 million or 978.2 million rubles).
In May 2021, a Ryanair Boeing, flying from Athens to Vilnius, made an emergency landing at Minsk airport due to a mining report.
As a result, the mining message has not been confirmed. On board were Protasevich and his girlfriend, the Russian Sofya Sapega. After the plane landed at the airport, both were arrested.
Sapieha was sentenced to six years in prison in May 2022 and is currently being extradited to Russia, where she will serve out the end of her sentence.
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