“The court found Sapega guilty of ‘deliberate acts aimed at inciting social enmity and discord on the basis of social affiliation committed by a group of persons,” said the decision issued in the Grodnensky District Court in Belarus, Which had dire consequences.”
The court also said on Friday that Sapega was found guilty of illegally collecting and distributing personal data. For this crime he was sentenced to one month in prison, and also had to pay damages amounting to 167,500 Belarusian rubles (or about $65,000). An appeal can be made against the decision within a period of 10 days.
Last May, Belarusian authorities took the extraordinary measure of diverting a Ryanair flight from Athens, Greece to Minsk headed for Vilnius, Lithuania, claiming there was a bomb threat.
Sapega and his partner in flight were Roman Protasevich, the founders of the Telegram channel Nexta. According to TASS, both were arrested in Minsk and placed under house arrest at the end of June 2021.
Nexta helped mobilize protests against Lukashenko, and according to TASS, has been identified “as an extremist site in Belarus”.
The interception of the plane and the arrest of the couple led to worldwide condemnation of Lukashenko, known as “Europe’s last dictator”, whose iron grip on his country has become increasingly tight in recent years.
When asked to comment on the sentencing to Sapega, Kremlinsenger Dmitry Peskov said Russia would “continue to defend its legitimate interests” because he is a Russian citizen.
“We really do not like it when someone comments on the decisions of our court, and we will not comment on the decision of the friendly court of Belarus,” Peskov said during a daily call with reporters.