Lukashenka pardons Russian citizen Sofya Sapega previously sentenced to six years behind bars in Belarus for ‘inciting hatred’

Alyaksandar Lukashenka has pardoned Russian citizen Sofya Sapega, sentenced to six years in a penal colony in Belarus over charges of “inciting hatred”, as per Belarus’ state news agency BelTA.

The pardoned woman was handed over to the Primorsky region of Russia delegation led by the governor Oleg Kozhemyako, according to BelTA.

Kozhemyako has published a post in which he claims that Lukashenka signed the pardon decree after Kozhemyako had personally appealed to him on Sapega’s behalf.

At the beginning of April, Sapega’s lawyer said that the procedure to hand Sapega over to Russia had been initiated.

On 6 May 2022, Sapega was sentenced to six years in prison for “inciting hatred”. The investigators believe that she was connected with the Black Book of Belarus Telegram channel which published personal data of Belarusian security officers, officials, judges, and journalists. Sapega was also charged with six more Criminal Code articles, including “unauthorised gathering and spreading information regarding private life of individuals”.

Andrey Sapega, Sofya’s father, paid a 175,000 BYN [roughly $68,000] fine ruled by court and awarded to 70 security officers, officials, and judges the court considered victims of Sapega’s crime in late June 2022.

Soon after, Sapega asked Lukashenka for free pardon. “I just want to be next to my family… I want to breathe freely,” she wrote. Lukashenka promised he would consider delivering Sapega to Russia, saying he was “feeling bad for the girl”. However, she was denied free pardon in January 2023.

On 23 May, 2021, the Belarusian law enforcement arrested Sofya Sapega alongside her boyfriend, co-creator of the NEXTA Telegram channel Roman Protasevich, after their Ryanair flight was forced to land in Minsk. On 22 May 2023, Protasevich, sentenced to eight years behind bars, was also pardoned by Lukashenka.