Nexta founder and blogger sentenced to eight years in prison

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The regional court sentenced the former editor-in-chief of the opposition medium Nexta “to eight years in prison,” the Belarusian news agency Belta reported on Wednesday. Belarusian opposition politician Svetlana Tichanovskaya said the sentencing “is yet another demonstration of Minsk’s disregard for justice on Press Freedom Day”.

Who is Roman Protasevich?

The journalist, who has been under house arrest since June 2021, is said to have helped coordinate mass protests against the controversial re-election of the head of state Alexander Lukashenko in the summer of 2020. Prosecutors had demanded ten years in prison for him.

Stepan Putilo and Jan Rudik, who were also accused of being responsible for Nexta and living in exile, were sentenced in absentia to 20 and 19 years in prison. The charges include calls for mass unrest and a “seizure of power”, as well as defamation of the president, organizing terrorist attacks and spreading false information about Belarus.

Protasevich has been a “hostage of the regime” since the emergency landing of his Ryanair plane, exiled Belarusian opposition leader Tichanovskaya wrote on Twitter after the verdict was announced. Minsk again showed its contempt for justice with the “conviction of three journalists in a show trial on Press Freedom Day”.

Protasevich was arrested on May 23, 2021 along with his girlfriend Sofia Sapega. Both were on a Ryanair plane en route from Athens to Vilnius when a Belarusian fighter jet forced the plane to land in Minsk on the pretext of an alleged bomb threat. The military action to stop the flight and the couple’s subsequent arrest had sparked international outrage.

Protasevich has cooperated with the country’s judiciary

After his arrest, Protasevich promised to cooperate with the country’s judiciary. In recordings distributed by Belarusian state television, he repeatedly expressed regret for his actions – however, according to the Belarusian opposition, these statements were forced.

The opposition media Nexta played a vital role in mobilizing the protests during the summer 2020 demonstrations against Lukashenko over allegations of electoral fraud. The state leadership had the medium banned and the Supreme Court qualified Nexta as a “terrorist organization”.

After the brutal suppression of the protests at the time, authorities in Belarus continue to crack down on critical voices. According to the Belarusian human rights organization Vyazna, there are currently 1,500 political prisoners in Belarus. The former Soviet republic is increasingly isolated internationally, not least because of its support for the Russian military offensive in Ukraine. (afp/bur/kas/cp)

Source: Blick