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MOSCOW, Feb. 16 (AP) — A Belarusian court opened Thursday to try a dissident journalist arrested nearly two years ago over international outrage over his forced diversion of a flight to Minsk.
Raman Pratasevich and his girlfriend were detained in May 2021 when their Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania was allegedly bomb threatened made an emergency landing in the Belarusian capital.
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The United States and the European Union condemned the flight diversion as a hijacking and responded by imposing severe sanctions on the government of Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko.
Pratasevich’s messaging app channel was widely used by participants in mass protests in Belarus against authoritarian Lukashenko’s re-election in August 2020, which the opposition and the West have accused of being rigged.
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Belarusian authorities have brutally cracked down on the demonstrations, arresting more than 35,000 people, beating thousands by police and shutting down dozens of media outlets and NGOs.
On Thursday, the Minsk Regional Court began the trial of Pratasevich, who was placed under house arrest after spending a month in jail after his flight was diverted.
Pratasevich appeared willing to cooperate with the authorities, criticizing the opposition in state television interviews amid what was widely seen as official pressure.
His Russian girlfriend, Sofia Sapega, who was arrested with him, was sentenced to six years in prison last year for inciting social hatred.
Pratasevich faces charges along with two former Nexta colleagues who are abroad and will be tried in absentia. They were charged with organizing mass riots and participating in a plot to overthrow the government, among other charges. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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