Belarusian authorities have pardoned the eight-year prison sentence of dissident journalist Roman Protasevich, whose arrest led to a commercial flight being diverted to Minsk, the official Belarusian news agency reported on Monday.
“I literally just signed all the relevant documents proving that I was pardoned. This, of course, is great news,” Protasevich Belte said, according to the US news agency AP.
The journalist said that he was “deeply grateful” to Belarus and personally to President Alexander Lukashenko for this decision.
“I found out that the president signed the pardon on May 16. Finally, my whole unpleasant story is over. I am very happy. I am very emotional. I can’t even formulate a thought,” he said, quoted by Belta.
Protasevich, 28, and his Russian girlfriend Sofya Sapega, 25, were arrested on May 23, 2021, while flying from Greece to Lithuania on a plane forced to land in Minsk by the Belarusian Air Force.
Minsk authorities claimed a “bomb threat” aboard Irish airline Ryanair to justify the forced landing, but a UN investigation concluded it was “knowingly false”.
Protasevich was sentenced to eight years in prison on May 3, along with two other Nexta journalists, Stepan Putilo, who received a 20-year sentence, and Yan Rudik, who was sentenced to 19 years.
The Minsk court accused the journalists of trying to “seize power”, as well as of “acts of terrorism” and insulting the head of state.
Putilo and Rudik did not appear in court, as they do not live in Belarus.
Protasevich also did not live in the country and his arrest was possible only if the aircraft was forced to deviate from the course.
Western countries condemned the flight diversion as tantamount to hijacking and imposed tough sanctions against Lukashenka and Belarus.
After his arrest, the journalist made several confessions on state television, which critics of the regime say were made under duress.
He was later released and placed under house arrest.
In court, Protasevich claimed he was being used by the opposition in exile and lamented the consequences of the actions he was accused of.
“My sincere desire was to change the life of our people and our country for the better, but I was very wrong, I chose the wrong path,” he said then, according to the Belarusian opposition news portal.
In May 2022, the journalist’s girlfriend was sentenced to six years in prison, among other things, for inciting social discord and illegal collection of personal data.
In April, Russian authorities said Sapieha had agreed to serve his sentence in Russia after Lukashenka denied him a pardon request.
The Belarusian human rights organization Viasna claims that about 1,500 people have been arrested in Belarus in connection with the activities of the opposition.
Among them is Viasna founder Ales Byalyatsky, one of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winners, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in March.
Lukashenko, 68, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been in power since 1994.