Belarusian activist and journalist Roman Pratasevich has pleaded guilty on the first day of his trial. This is reported by the independent Russian medium The Moscow Times Thursday. Pratasevich, along with two former colleagues, is charged with a total of 1,586 criminal offenses, including setting up a terrorist organization, conspiracy to seize power, organizing riots and insulting Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Read also: Revenge seems to be Lukashenko’s motive in plane hijacking
Pratasevitch, 27, is the former editor-in-chief of Nexta Live, a Telegram channel that played a key role in anti-government protests against Lukashenko following his controversial 2020 election victory. was charged with ‘mass disturbances’ and ‘incitement to hatred’. In the country, this carries a prison sentence of fifteen years.
Aircraft hijacking
Pratasevich was arrested in a sensational way in May 2021. The journalist was on a flight from Greece to Lithuania with his girlfriend, 24-year-old Russian law student Sofia Sapega. Just above Belarus, the plane suddenly had to make an emergency landing in the Belarusian capital Minsk, after a bomb was reported on the plane.
When the plane landed, the two were immediately arrested, but no bomb was ever found on board. Later, the UN aviation agency International Civil Aviation Organization concluded that the Belarusian government had made a false bomb threat. The US and the EU condemned this “hijacking” and responded with sanctions against Lukashenko’s government.
Also read this reconstruction: One passenger panicked when the plane changed course
Show process
A year later, Sapega was sentenced to six years in prison for “inciting hatred.” The 24-year-old posted on her Telegram channel, among other things, the personal data of soldiers who helped put down the anti-government protests in Belarus in 2020. Pratasevich was still under house arrest at the time, his trial started on Thursday. Before the hearing, Pratasevich told journalists: “I am morally and psychologically ready for any outcome.”
The trial against Belarusian journalists Stsypan Poetsila and Jan Roedzik, both of whom worked at Nexta Live, also started on Thursday. More than ten different charges have been filed against all three journalists. Poetsila and Roedzik have both fled abroad and are being tried in absentia. Because Pratasevich was placed under house arrest, he must actually attend the hearing. The session can be seen as a show trial: Belarus is known for the large number of journalists and activists who are arrested and detained. There are currently 26 journalists in prison in Belarus. There is a good chance that Pratasevich and his two colleagues will also be sentenced to years in prison.
Also read this profile: Roman Pratasevich, journalist and activist