Belarusian Activist Protasevich Sentenced to 8 Years in Jail

Facts

• Dissident journalist Roman Protasevich, 27, who stands accused of committing 1,586 crimes including organizing mass riots and calling for sanctions against Belarus, was sentenced by a Belarusian court on Tuesday to eight years in prison, BELTA news agency has reported.¹
• In May 2021, Protasevich was onboard a Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania that was suddenly diverted on the basis of a false bomb alert. The plane landed in the Belarusian capital Minsk, where he was arrested along with his Russian girlfriend.²
• Protasevich worked as a journalist at the news outlet Nexta, which covered mass protests against Lukashenko in 2020 following an election denounced by the opposition and Western governments as rigged.³
• After their capture, they appeared on Belarusian TV and allegedly confessed to criminal activity in recordings that seemed to have been made under duress. Protasevich's family and supporters believe he was coerced into releasing videos denouncing his political activism.⁴
• The court sentenced two of Protasevich's former colleagues, Stepan Putilo and Yan Rudik, to 20 years and 19 years in prison in absentia, respectively. Both men are currently living outside Belarus.⁵
• According to Minsk-based independent rights group Viasna, there are now 1.5K political prisoners in Belarus. The country's government has become even more isolated since suppressing protests and allowing Russia to use its territory for offensive maneuvers in Ukraine.⁶

Sources: ¹Al Jazeera, ²BBC News, ³Reuters, ⁴Euronews, ⁵Wall Street Journal, and ⁶Le Monde.fr.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Wall Street Journal. Belarusian dissidents and opposition figures have expressed outrage over the long jail terms handed down on Wednesday to Protasevich and his two former colleagues. President Alexander Lukashenka has once again shown his disregard for justice by sentencing Protasevich on PressFreedomDay. The development also follows the jailing of the innocent Nobel Peace Prize winner and human-rights activist Ales Bialiatski, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in March.
• Narrative B, as provided by Al Jazeera. Protasevich and his co-conspirators were charged with directing the activities of the terrorist organization Nexta. The defendants have repeatedly incited social hatred and discord by blocking roads, coordinating street riots, and committing terrorist attacks on the railway and other elements of critical infrastructure. The defendants used their information resources to destabilize the situation in the territory of Belarus and radicalize protests from abroad.

Predictions