Łukašenka pardons Russian woman arrested after airliner’s forced landing

June 7, BPN. Sofia Sapega, a Russian national who was detained in Belarus along with an opposition blogger in 2021, has been pardoned and freed, according to a Russian governor who has met her outside the prison.

Oleg Kozhemyako, governor of Russia’s Primorsky krai, said he had appealed to Belarusian ruler Alaksandr Łukašenka for leniency on behalf of Sapega’s parents. He said Łukašenka signed the pardon decree yesterday after their meeting in Minsk.

Sapega and Raman Pratasievič were arrested in May 2021 after their flight from Greece to Lithuania was diverted to Minsk by a Belarusian fighter jet. She was accused of inciting hatred and distributing information against Łukašenka’s regime.

Sapega was sentenced to six years in prison in May 2022. Pratasievič made a deal with investigators and received an eight-year prison sentence last month, only to be pardoned.

Kozhemyako said that Sapega will fly to Moscow to reunite with her family. He added that she had been given a “serious lesson” and expressed hope that she would start a new life.