Belarusian state information outlet Belta reported Monday that journalist and former opposition determine Roman Protasevich was pardoned by President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko weeks after being sentenced to eight years in jail.
Protasevich was arrested in 2021 after Ryanair flight FR4978, carrying Protasevich and fellow activist Sofia Sapega, was compelled to divert to Minsk after the President allegedly was given data that there have been explosives on board the flight, an evidence that nations like Poland and Lithuania have rejected.
Protasevich was later placed on the Belarusian authorities’s record of terrorists and was later convicted of crimes comparable to “making public appeals for seizing energy, committing acts of terrorism, slandering the president [and] spreading knowingly fraudulent details about Belarus.”
Belta quotes Protasevich’s response disavowing his previous opposition views:
I wish to thank President [Lukashenko] personally as a result of that is his choice. It is a daring transfer, a call of a strong-willed particular person. I wish to thank the nation and the individuals who believed in me, in my sincerity, who suppose that folks can mend their methods and admit their errors… I don’t learn what they write about me. I unsubscribed from all doable data sources a very long time in the past. I imply pro-Western, opposition one as a result of they recycle stuff about me. I’m not fascinated about what’s happening there, what they’re saying. I’m centered the optimistic agenda. I’ll dedicate most time to my household.
Protasevich was part of Nexta, a Belarusian “media mission on social and political matters” that goals to “destroy myths of state propaganda and use concrete examples to indicate the tough actuality of life in Belarus.” Nexta has been deemed a terrorist group by Belarusian authorities. The outlet gained reputation after reporting on the 2020 protests towards the re-election of President Lukashenko.
Fellow activist Sofia Sapega who was arrested on the similar time has not been pardoned.
Source / Picture: jurist.org
