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Crisis in Belarus

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Investigation of Protasevich and Sapega cases to be held in Belarus, says Lukashenko

This cannot be changed, Belarusian President added

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko Nikolai Petrov/BelTA/TASS

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko

© Nikolai Petrov/BelTA/TASS

MINSK, June 1. /TASS/. The investigation into the cases of Belarusian citizen Roman Protasevich and Russian national Sofia Sapega, who were detained in Minsk earlier, will be held on the territory of Belarus, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday during a session dedicated to cooperation with Russia.

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"The investigation into both persons’ cases will be held in Belarus. This cannot be changed. This is what I told the Russian president. I assured him that there will be no problems with consular access," the BelTA news agency quotes Lukashenko as saying.

"I think that they (Russia - TASS) are not offended, not only do we provide information, we allow them to meet [the suspect] if they want. This is an international practice," Lukashenko added.

The Belarusian leader informed that the detention of Protasevich and Sapega was discussed during his meeting with the Russian president in Sochi. Putin and Lukashenko met last Friday and Saturday.

On May 23, Russian national Sofia Sapega was apprehended at Minsk International Airport together with Roman Protasevich, one of the co-founders of the Nexta Telegram channel, which Minsk deems to be an extremist entity, after an emergency landing of a Ryanair flight. In a video uploaded to the Internet several days later, Sapega admitted that she served as an editor of the Black Book of Belarus Telegram channel which doxed Belarusian police officers. In April, this Telegram channel was declared to be an extremist entity by Gomel’s Zheleznodorozhny District Court.

Last week, Sapega was arrested for two months, she was sent to a KGB detention center. On May 30, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei in an interview with the Kommersant newspaper, said that a Belarusian court would decide Sapega’s fate once the investigation of her case is completed. Makei did not rule out that the Belarusian leader might decide to pardon Sapega or hand her over to Russia after the court ruling.

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