A court in Minsk has sentenced Raman Pratasevich, a journalist who was detained in Belarus in 2021 after the commercial flight he was on was forced to land in Minsk, to eight years in prison on charges linked to his reporting.
Minsk regional court Judge Vyachaslau Tuleyka on May 3 also sentenced Pratasevich's two co-defendants, Stsyapan Putsila and Yan Rudzik, who were tried in absentia, to 20 and 19 years in prison, respectively.
The three men were authors of the Nexta Live Telegram channel that extensively covered the unprecedented protests against the official results of an August 2020 presidential election that the opposition and many Western countries say was rigged.
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Read our coverage as Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka continues his brutal crackdown on NGOs, activists, and independent media following the August 2020 presidential election.
The trial started in mid-February. The journalists were initially charged with forming and leading an extremist group, insulting the authoritarian ruler of Belarus, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, plotting to seize power through unconstitutional means, discrediting Belarus, financing extremist activities, inciting social hatred, organizing mass disorders, conducting acts of terrorism, and other actions aimed to undermine national security.
Putsila was additionally charged with orchestrating the activities of a terrorist organization.
Last month, the prosecutor at the Minsk regional court additionally charged Pratasevich and Rudzik with "repetitively forming and leading an extremist group" over their running of the Telegram channel called Belarus Golovnogo Mozga (Belarus of the Brain) based in Lithuania, which was also critical of Lukashenka and his regime.
Raman Pratasevich (left to right), Stsyapan Putsila, and Yan Rudzik (combo photo)
Pratasevich, who used to work as an editor and a key administrator of the Nexta Live channel, fled Belarus in 2019.
In May 2021, he and his then-girlfriend, Russian citizen Sofia Sapega, were arrested after their commercial flight from Greece to Lithuania was forced to land in Minsk.
Belarus said it had ordered the plane to land after an anonymous bomb threat. Evidence later revealed Belarusian officials conspired to fake the bomb threat as a pretense for diverting the plane so they could detain the two.
Sapega was accused of administering a channel on Telegram that published the personal data of Belarusian security forces and sentenced to six years in prison in May 2022. In April, officials at the Russian Embassy in Minsk said Sapega will be extradited to Russia soon.
Pratasevich made several appearances on Belarusian state television in 2021 that prompted the opposition and Western officials to accuse Lukashenka and his regime of extracting video confessions through torture.
The officials also called for Pratasevich and Sapega's immediate release.