Russian citizen Sofia Sapega sentenced to six years in prison

The Russian woman was detained in May last year, along with her friend Roman Protasevich, when they were returning from Athens to Vilnius. They were flying aboard a Ryanair aircraft. Flying over the territory of Belarus, the authorities of the country took off a MiG-29 fighter into the sky and landed the plane in Minsk, allegedly under the pretext of a bomb planted on board the plane. After that, Sofia Sapega and Roman Protasevich were detained.

First, they were placed in a pre-trial detention center, and after receiving confessions from them, they were released under house arrest.

At the end of December, Sofia Sapega was charged under seven articles of the Criminal Code. In particular, she was accused of inciting hatred, illegal actions in relation to personal data, as well as violence against law enforcement officers and threats against a judge. Consideration of the case of the Russian woman in court began in March this year.