The former editor-in-chief of the Nexta telegram channel Roman Protasevich told Belta journalists about the pardon.
On May 3, a Belarusian court sentenced Protasevich to eight years in prison. He was found guilty of organizing mass riots, public calls for acts of terrorism, leading an extremist formation and other crimes. On May 18, Protasevich's sentence came into force, until that moment he was under house arrest.
Together with him, the court sentenced other administrators of the Nexta telegram channel in absentia — Stepan Putilo was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and Yan Rudik — 19 years.
In May 2021, Protasevich and his girlfriend Sofya Sapega were detained at the Minsk airport. They flew from Athens to Vilnius, but the plane made an emergency landing in Belarus after a false report of a bomb on board.
Later, a court in Belarus sentenced Sapega to six years in prison for administering an opposition Telegram channel. According to the prosecution, she posted personal data of Belarusian security officials, judges and civil servants on the Black Book of Belarus telegram channel.
In early April, the Baza telegram channel, citing Sapieha’s lawyer Anton Gashinsky, wrote that the girl’s parents sent a petition to the Russian Ministry of Justice for her transfer to Russia. In mid-April, the Prosecutor General's Office of Belarus granted Sapieha's request to transfer her to Russia to serve her sentence. On April 27, it became known that the Presnensky District Court of Moscow received materials against the Russian woman Sofya Sapega