After Belarusian government opponent Roman Protasevich, his girlfriend has now also been pardoned. The 25-year-old was given a “unique opportunity to start her life over,” said the governor of Primorye, Russia’s home region.
Sapega was sentenced to six years in prison for “incitement to social hatred” and “violence or threats” (see video above). She was arrested in May 2022 with her boyfriend Protasevich aboard a Ryanair plane en route from Athens to Vilnius. The plane had to stop in Belarus and the couple’s arrest sparked international outrage.
Protasevich fled to the EU in 2019, from where he ran the opposition Telegram news channel Nexta. Hundreds of thousands of protesters against the presidential elections in Belarus (August 2020) were mobilized through this channel. At the time, the elections were accompanied by massive allegations of fraud. Protasevich was sentenced to eight years in prison, but was pardoned on May 22.
Back to Russia
Now the same decree followed for his girlfriend Sofia Sapega. The governor of the region has released a video showing him and Sapega in front of an official building in Belarus. The native Russian will fly back to her country of origin, it said. It was a “unique opportunity to start your life over,” it said.
Source: Krone
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