The detained girlfriend of dissident journalist Roman Protasevich has appeared in a video seemingly confessing while locked up.
Sofia Sapega, a 23-year-old Russian citizen, was detained along with the Lithuania-based blogger after their flight was diverted by a warplane to Minsk on Sunday.
The Belarus warplane intercepted a Ryanair passenger jet carrying Mr Protasevich, a journalist critical of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, in an act denounced by Western powers as “state piracy”.
Sofia, a student who was travelling with Protasevich, was also detained.
It was “in connection with the suspicion of having committed, between August and September 2020, offences under several articles of the Belarusian Criminal Code,” a Russian Foreign Ministry statement said.
(Image: VIA REUTERS)
(Image: via REUTERS)
Belarusian authorities have extended her detention for two months, TASS news agency reports.
A video posted on a pro-Lukashenko channel on the Telegram messaging app on Tuesday night showed a young woman sitting in a chair who said she was Sofia Sapega.
In the footage she admitted that she was the editor of a social media channel which has disclosed the personal information of Belarusian law enforcement personnel, a crime in Belarus.
Her mum, Anna Dudich, said in an interview on Tuesday that her daughter was innocent and simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The RIA news agency reported that Sofia feels well and has not complained of inappropriate treatment, citing Russia’s embassy to Belarus.
It plans to take all measures to protect and support her, it added.
Sofia is a student at a university in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius and was flying there with Roman Protasevich from Greece.
Meanwhile, Roman’s mum Natalia Protasevich has begged the international community to save her son.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
In an interview she said: “I’m asking, I’m begging, I’m calling on the whole international community to save him.
“He’s only one journalist, he’s only one child but please, please. I am begging for help. Please save him. They’re going to kill him in there.”
He had already appeared in a released video on Monday where he acknowledged playing a role in organising mass disturbances in Minsk last year.
But to his dad, Dzmitry Protasevich, the video appeared to be a result of coercion.
In response to the incident airlines re-routed flights to avoid Belarus’s airspace on Tuesday and Belarusian planes faced a possible ban from Europe, as international outrage mounted.
Western countries accused Belarus of hijacking and piracy over the interception of the Ryanair plane as it crossed the country.