Belarusian activist Roman Protasevich arrested on Ryanair flight ‘pardoned’

Belarusian opposition blogger, Roman Protasevich, whose arrest made international headlines after the plane he was on was forced to land in Minsk in 2021, was pardoned on Monday (May 22), reported the Belarusian state news agency Belta. The reported pardon also comes weeks after he was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Protasevich gets ‘pardoned’

“I have literally just signed all the relevant documents stating that I have been pardoned,” said Protasevich to reporters, as quoted by Belta. He also went on to call it “great news.” He added, “I am incredibly grateful to the country and of course, to the president personally for such a decision.”

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Charges against the blogger

The 28-year-old, who worked as a journalist at the news outlet Nexta, had been sentenced to eight years in prison on charges including inciting terrorism, organising mass disturbances and slandering Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. As per reports, the Nexta Telegram account had coordinated mass protests against the Belarusian president in 2020.

The news outlet Nexta had extensively reported on the protests that followed Lukashenko’s win in the 2020 presidential election which the opposition and Western governments denounced as rigged. Following the election results, the officials began a crackdown which resulted in the detention or exile of prominent opposition figures.

This also included the news outlet’s founder Stsiapan Putsila and former editor Yan Rudik who were sentenced by the same court to 20 and 19 years in prison, respectively. Last year, the Belarusian government also declared Nexta a “terrorist organisation”.

Protasevich’s shocking arrest and what followed

The Belarusian opposition blogger’s arrest shocked the world of aviation authorities after a Belarusian fighter jet forced a civilian aircraft, Ryanair flight, travelling from Greece to Lithuania to land in Minsk.

Protasevich was kept under house arrest after the trial. However, there is very little known about his treatment by the authorities in the Russia-allied country as many believe he was coerced into issuing apologetic statements on state television following his arrest.

Meanwhile, some exiled Belarusian opposition figureshaveaccused him of collaborating with authorities and said the admissions were false. This comes as Protasevich was shown on state television tearfully confessing to involvement in anti-government protests and plotting to topple Lukashenko’s government.

(With inputs from agencies)

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