A Belarusian court has sentenced journalist and activist Roman Protasevich, co-founder and former director of Nexta, a Telegram channel that was a focus for protesters during the 2020 anti-regime protests in Belarus, to eight years in prison.
Ria Novosti reports it.
The accusations against him are clearly political in nature and range from "extremism" to "an attempt to seize power".
Protasevich was arrested in 2021 after the Belarusian authorities forced the airliner on which he was traveling to land in Minsk due to a bomb scare that later proved to be unfounded.