Sofia Sapega. Archive photoGRODNO, May 6.The Grodno regional court on Friday sentenced Russian woman Sofya Sapega, accused under seven articles of the criminal code of Belarus, to six years in prison, RIA Novosti correspondent reports from the courtroom. The prosecution process was held behind closed doors, since the case materials contain personal data of the injured security officials, judges, officials and members of their families, as well as materials calling for extremist activities and information products recognized as extremist. The operative part of the court's decision was announced in open mode.Minsk commented on the ICAO report on the incident with the Ryanair aircraft The department explained that the accused, together with other persons, including foreign citizens, created and administered a number of Telegram channels, where personal data of at least 238 people were posted, including employees of internal affairs bodies, prosecutors, judges, and other civil servants. as well as journalists. They claimed that after the information was published, these people were threatened with violence against them and their loved ones, as well as damage to property, and crimes were committed against some of them. The maximum term provided for by these articles is 12 years in prison. However, the girl entered into a pre-trial agreement with the investigation and took measures to pay the proceeds of crime, so she has the right to count on a reduction in the sentence in case of a guilty verdict. In addition, according to the girl's stepfather, Sergei Dudich, Sapieha wrote a petition for clemency addressed to the President of the Republic, Alexander Lukashenko.The Minsk court sentenced the Russian Dudnikov to 11 years in prison Sapieha was detained in Belarus at the end of May last year, together with Roman Protasevich, who founded the Nexta Telegram channel, recognized as extremist in the republic. They were on board a Ryanair aircraft flying from Athens to Vilnius and making an emergency landing at the Minsk airport due to a report of mining, which was subsequently not confirmed. A criminal case has been initiated against Protasevich under several articles, including the article «organization of mass riots», he faces up to 15 years in prison. Initially, Sapieha and Protasevich were kept in a pre-trial detention center in Minsk, and then they were transferred to house arrest. After the presidential elections held in Belarus on August 9, 2020, in which Alexander Lukashenko won for the sixth time, who, according to the CEC, won 80.1% of the votes, opposition protests took place in the country, for the suppression of which the security forces, among other things, used special equipment and special equipment. The KGB of Belarus in February 2021 stated that the manifestations of protests had practically disappeared. In Belarus, criminal cases have been initiated against a number of opposition leaders, including calls for a seizure of power, the creation of an extremist group, a conspiracy to seize state power by unconstitutional means, and an attempted terrorist act.
The Supreme Court of Belarus recognized Nexta as a terrorist organization
