The judge of the Presnensky District Court of Moscow, Alexandra Avdotyina, postponed to June 1 the consideration of the petition for the transfer of Sofya Sapieha from Belarus to Russia to serve her sentence, so that the prosecutor's office would familiarize herself with the defense's request to reschedule the hearings to Vladivostok. This was reported by a Mediazona correspondent from the courtroom.
Attorney Igor Grishin, who was not present at the meeting, petitioned for a change in jurisdiction, the proposal was supported by lawyer Sergei Badamshin and his colleague named Andrusenko, who were in the courtroom. According to the latter, Sapieha's case materials were initially received by the Presnensky District Court, since the Federal Penitentiary Service did not know about the girl's place of residence in Russia. According to Grishin's petition, she is registered on Russky Island.
Sofya Sapega was detained at the Minsk airport along with her boyfriend, former editor-in-chief of the Nexta telegram channel Roman Protasevich in May 2021. The couple flew from Athens to Vilnius, but the plane made an emergency landing in Belarus after a false report of a bomb on board. The girl was accused of administering the Black Book of Belarus telegram channel, which published the personal data of the security forces. After the arrest, Sapega and Protasevich were sent to a pre-trial detention center, but soon their preventive measure was changed to house arrest.
Six months later, Sapieha was finally charged with seven articles of the Belarusian Criminal Code: inciting enmity and discord; organization of violence and threats of violence to a police officer; impact on an internal affairs officer in order to change the nature of his legal activities; organizing a threat of violence to an official; threats of murder, violence, damage to property to the judge; organization of obstruction of the professional activities of a journalist; illegal collection and dissemination of information about private life.
As a result, the girl entered into a pre-trial agreement with the investigation. A year ago, a court in Grodno sentenced her to six years in prison on charges of inciting hatred and discord (Part 3 of Article 130 of the Criminal Code of Belarus) and illegal collection of information about private life (Part 1 of Article 179 of the Criminal Code of Belarus).
A few months before Sapega's verdict, Protasevich spoke about cooperation with the pro-government center «Systemic Human Rights», and then said that he was involved in «ten» cases, but as a witness. In addition, he claimed that he broke up with the girl before the arrest. On January 10, 2023, it became known that the girl was denied a pardon. After that, the Prosecutor General's Office of Belarus granted Sapieha's request to be transferred to Russia to serve his sentence.
After that, the Minsk Regional Court, on May 3, sentenced Roman Protasevich to eight years in prison, finding him guilty of organizing mass riots, public calls for acts of terrorism, leading an extremist group and other crimes. Two days ago, on May 22, it became known that he was pardoned.