The Belarusian prosecutor’s office on Friday demanded a prison sentence of up to 20 years for the founders of the opposition news portal Nexta, which played a “key role” in mobilizing the movement to challenge power in 2020.
Stepan Putilo, 24 years old and co-founder of the portal released through the YouTube and Telegram platforms, and two journalists from the same body, Ian Roudik, 29 years old, and Roman Protassevich, 27 years old, are accused of mobilizing of Belarusians against the regime of Alexander Lukashenko, which vigorously repressed protests that took place after the 2020 elections, according to the organization for the defense and promotion of human rights Viasna.
If Poutilo and Roudik are in exile and are being tried in absentia, Protassevich, former editor of Nexta, was arrested in 2021 after the commercial jet he was traveling on was intercepted by Belarusian military authorities as it flew over the country’s airspace.
According to Viasna, prosecutor Natalia Sokolova has demanded 20 years in prison for Putilo, 19 for Roudik and 10 for Protassevich.
The three face a range of charges, including “deliberate acts of incitement to hatred,” “defamation” or “mass unrest,” according to Viasna, whose founder, Ales Bialiatski, who is currently in prison, is a co-winner of the Nobel Prize 2022. Peace Prize.
Nexta has played a key role in mobilizing the historic protest movement against the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko in August 2020.
The portal was banned by the Supreme Court of Belarus and classified as a “terrorist organization”.
Journalist and opposition activist Roman Protassevich was arrested on May 23, 2021 along with his partner, Sofia Sapega, on a Ryanair flight between Athens and Vilnius, which was intercepted by a Belarusian fighter jet and forced to land in Minsk. protests and sanctions.
After his arrest, Protassevich agreed to cooperate with the investigation and repeatedly expressed regret in videos broadcast on Belarusian public television, shot “under duress”, according to the Belarusian opposition.
Protassevich has been under house arrest since June 2021, while Sofia Sapega, a Russian citizen, has been sentenced to six years in prison.
“Protassevich fulfilled the conditions of the cooperation agreement. Therefore, the accused will receive a lesser sentence than he should,” Natalia Sokolova told Belarusian television.
Source: DN
