A Belarusian court has sentenced journalist Raman Pratasevich to eight years in prison. Pratasevich was arrested in May 2021 after the commercial flight he was on was diverted to Minsk, causing international outrage. The Ryanair jetliner, traveling from Greece to Lithuania, was forced to land in Belarus after flight controllers claimed there was a bomb threat. Once the plane was on the ground, no explosives were found, but Pratasevich, who was living in exile at the time, was detained, along with his Russian girlfriend. The plane was then allowed to continue on to Vilnius, Lithuania's capital.
Pratasevich is a well-known dissident journalist who ran a Telegram messaging app channel that was widely used by participants in mass protests against the disputed 2020 election that kept authoritarian Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in power. He was charged with organizing unrest and plotting to seize power.
The founder of the Telegram channel, Stepan Putilo, and another editor of the channel, Yan Rudik, were also sentenced in absentia to 20 and 19 years in prison, respectively. Both remain in exile.
The forced diversion of the commercial flight sparked international outrage, with some leaders calling it a state-sponsored hijacking. In response, several Western countries imposed new sanctions on Belarus and barred their planes from flying over the country. The sentencing of Pratasevich and the other journalists is likely to further strain Belarus' already tense relationship with the West.