Belarusian court hands dissident's girlfriend 6-year prison sentence

Sofia Sapega.
(Image credit: LEONID SHCHEGLOV/BELTA/AFP via Getty Images)

Sofia Sapega, the Russian girlfriend of detained Belarusian dissident Roman Protasevich, was sentenced to six years in prison for inciting social hatred, Reuters reports Friday.

Sapega was traveling with Protasevich last May when their flight was diverted to Minsk by Belarusian authorities. At the time, Belarus claimed it grounded the plane due to a tip about a bomb; but the threat ended up being false, and both Protasevich and Sapega were detained, Reuters writes.

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Brigid Kennedy

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.