Russian accomplice of Belarusian dissident journalist sentenced to 6 years in jail appealed to Belarus strongman chief Alexander Lukashenko for pardon.
In a letter addressed to Lukashenko, 24-year-old scholar Sofia Sapega mentioned she dedicated her “crimes” due to “youth and stupidity”, and said that she was influenced by a “damaging group of individuals”, seemingly distancing herself from her accomplice Roman Protasevich.
Within the letter made obtainable to native media on Monday, Sapega additionally expressed a want to be near her household in Russia.
Earlier in June, Lukashenko advised the native press that he was contemplating having her deported to her homeland to serve her sentence there, saying that the state of affairs was “a pity for the lady”.
Sapega was arrested along with Protasevich in Could 2021 when Belarusian authorities diverted the Ryanair flight en route from Greece to Lithuania and compelled it to land in Minsk as a consequence of an alleged bomb menace.
Lukashenko referred to as her a “terrorist’s confederate” on the time, whereas Russian President Vladimir Putin requested for her case to be “adopted carefully”.
She was placed on trial and located responsible in Could of a variety of prison fees together with "inciting social hatred" and "violence or threats”.
In a video launched by Belarusian authorities, Sapega confessed to being the editor of a Telegram channel referred to as Black Guide of Belarus, recognized for releasing the non-public info of the Lukashenko regime's intelligence and safety personnel.
Between her arrest and sentencing, Sapega had spent a couple of yr in a Minsk pre-detention centre run by the nation’s intelligence service, KGB, main many to imagine that her statements may need been made below duress.
Questions have additionally been raised concerning the equity of her trial, as Lukashenko has been amping up the crackdown in opposition to his critics lately.
This isn't the primary time Sapega or her relations have requested for her to be pardoned.
In June 2021, her father Andrey Sapega revealed a video message for Lukashenko asking for mercy and stating that “any sane individual understands that she was within the fallacious place with the fallacious individual.”
Final December, her stepfather Sergey Dudich advised the Radio Moskvy radio station that she had already written an enchantment for clemency, and said that the Russian diplomats monitoring the case advised him “We’re doing what we are able to, we knocked in every single place.”
The previous editor of the opposition media outlet Nexta and a outstanding critic of the Belarusian chief, Protasevich has been below home arrest since Could 2021, with the investigation in opposition to him mentioned to be ongoing.
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