Opposition editor convicted in Belarus
LVIV, Ukraine — A woman who ran a Belarusian opposition messaging app channel was convicted Friday of charges that included inciting social hatred.
Following her conviction, Sophia Sapega was sentenced to six years in prison. Sapega is a Russian citizen, and her lawyer, Anton Gashinsky, said she would appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin to intervene.
Sapega and Raman Pratasevich were flying from Athens, Greece to Vilnius, Lithuania, a year ago when their plane was ordered to land in Belarus accompanied by a fighter jet because of an alleged bomb threat.
Pratasevich was the editor of Nexta, a channel on the Telegram messaging app that was a key factor in organizing protests in Belarus after President Alexander Lukashenko won a disputed sixth term in August 2020.
Sapega ran another Telegram channel that published the personal data of civil servants and military personnel who took part in mass repressions of the protests.