Political prisoner Sofia Sapega pardoned and handed over to Russians
Sofia Sapega after her release from the Homiel colony / BELTA
Aliaksandr Lukashenka has pardoned political prisoner Sofia Sapega. She is a citizen of Russia. According to BelTA, on June 7 she was handed over to the delegation of the Primorsky region of the Russian Federation, headed by Governor Oleg Kozhemyako. He says that the pardon decree was signed on his request. Sapega said that it was a gift for her to return to her mother and father and that she was "really very lucky." She is already in Russia.
Sofia Sapega was taken off a Ryanair flight in May 2021, along with the former head of NEXTA Raman Pratasevich. The girl, who managed the "Black Book of Belarus," was sentenced to six years in prison. Earlier she had been denied a pardon, but in April this year the Belarusian Prosecutor General's Office agreed to transfer her to Russia to serve out her sentence. Sapega's extradition trial began in Moscow on May 24. The defense requested that she be transferred to Primorye.
Pratasevich was sentenced to eight years in prison on May 3. He was pardoned by Lukashenka on May 22.
