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Russian consul receives consent from Sapega, convicted in Belarus, to be extradited home

Sofia Sapega was detained on May 23, 2021, at Minsk airport along with Roman Protasevich, the founder of the Nexta Telegram channel, which was recognized as extremist in Belarus

Sofia Sapega Leonid Shcheglov/BelTA/TASS

Sofia Sapega

© Leonid Shcheglov/BelTA/TASS

MINSK, April 12. /TASS/. The Russian Consul in Belarus visited Russian national Sofia Sapega, sentenced to six years' imprisonment in Belarus, and received her consent to be extradited to Russia, Alexey Maskalev, the spokesman of the Russian embassy to Minsk, told TASS on Wednesday.

"Earlier, the embassy sent a request to the relevant Belarusian bodies for another visit to several Russian citizens imprisoned in Belarus, including Sofia Sapega, who is serving her sentence in a penal colony in the Gomel region," he said, "As soon as the corresponding permission was given by the Belarusian authorities, our consul visited Sofia Sapega on Monday, April 10."

During the visit, the Russian national "gave her consent to be extradited to Russia for possible further serving of her sentence on the territory of the Russian Federation," Maskalev added.

Earlier, the lawyer of Sofia Sapega, Anton Gashinsky, told TASS that the extradition process for the Russian citizen, sentenced to six years' imprisonment in Belarus, had been launched.

Sofia Sapega was detained on May 23, 2021 at Minsk airport along with Roman Protasevich, the founder of the Nexta Telegram channel, which was recognized as extremist in Belarus. Sapega was found guilty of deliberate actions aimed at inciting social enmity and discord based on social background, which were committed by a group of people and caused grave consequences, as well as of illicitly collecting and disseminating personal information. The Grodno Regional Court sentenced her to six years in prison on May 6, 2022. Later, she filed a plea for a pardon, which was ultimately turned down.

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