Court imposes lengthy prison sentence on journalist arrested in passenger flight forced landing

May 3, BPN. A judge in Minsk has handed down an eight-year prison sentence on the journalist whose capture two years ago involved a false bomb threat and the forced landing of a passenger flight.

Belarusian authorities hunted down Raman Pratasievič because they considered his Nexta media outlet responsible for political unrest that followed the disputed presidential election in 2020.

In July 2021, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council said the Ryanair flight diversion was unlawful as the bomb threat was “deliberately false” and was “communicated to the flight crew upon the instructions of senior government officials of Belarus.”

EU airlines stopped flying over Belarus after the incident, and Belarusian carriers were barred from entering the bloc’s airspace.

The Minsk City Court sentenced Pratasievič to eight years in a high-security prison, the Belarusian Association of Journalists reported.

The judge showed leniency because he had cooperated with investigators. At the time of his arrest the journalist feared he would be given the death penalty.

Prosecutor Natalla Sakałova requested a 10-year prison term for Pratasievič who has been under house arrest after agreeing to help the investigators and admitting guilt.

The court also sentenced the Nexta founder, Ściapan Puciła, and journalist Jan Rudzik to 20 and 19 years in prison, respectively, without the defendants being present.

The EU-based Puciła and Rudzik were tried under special proceedings that target those living abroad and evading contact with investigators.

Judge Viačasłaŭ Tulejka found the journalists guilty of eleven criminal offenses including forming a terrorist group, inciting mass riots, calling for the seizure of power and other crimes.

When sending the criminal case to court, the Prosecutor General’s Office said defendants should pay the state 30 million rubels (some $11.9 million) in damages.

On May 23, 2021 the Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius was forced to land at a Minsk airport. Security officers arrested Pratasievič and his girlfriend Sofya Sapega.

Sapega, a Russian national, is now serving a six-year sentence for allegedly administering an opposition Telegram channel.

According to ICAO, the forced landing endangered the safety of the aircraft and violated the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation and the Montreal Convention, regulating international carriage by air.

Authoritarian leader Alaksandr Łukašenka dismissed the ICAO report as fabricated. “Well, it’s not like we shot down a plane,” he told AFP in July 2022. “How many people died there? Who did I kill?”