After the pardon for the Belarusian opposition member Protasevich, his girlfriend has now also been released. Sapega was sentenced to six years in prison. She is Russian.
Belarus’ head of state Alexander Lukashenko has also pardoned the girlfriend of government opponent Roman Protasevich. Lukashenko signed a pardon, which was handed over to a delegation from the Russian home region of the 25-year-old, the state news agency Belta reported.
Her parents asked for clemency after she was sentenced to six years in prison in 2022. Sapega had been about to be transferred to her native Russia.
Sapega is to fly back to Russia
“Our compatriot Sofia Sapega has been given a unique opportunity to start her life anew,” said the governor of Russia’s home region of Primorye, Oleg Koshemyako, in the online service Telegram.
He also published a video showing him and Sapega in front of an official building in Belarus. The 25-year-old will now fly back to Russia, said Koschemjako.
The couple’s arrest sparked outrage
Sapega was arrested in May 2021 with her boyfriend Protasevich on board a Ryanair plane en route from Athens to Vilnius after the plane was forced to stop in Belarus. The couple’s arrest sparked international outrage. Protasevich fled to Europe in 2019, from where he ran the opposition Telegram news channel Nexta. Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators were mobilized via this channel after the presidential election in Belarus in August 2020, which was accompanied by massive allegations of fraud.
Some leaders have condemned the action as a state-sponsored kidnapping. Western states imposed new sanctions on Belarus and banned airlines from flying over Belarusian airspace. Protasevich was pardoned on May 22 after being sentenced to eight years in prison a few weeks earlier.