The Prosecutor General of Belarus has requested the 10-year prison sentence of the former editor of the telegram channel NEXTA Roman Protasevich, accused in particular of having led an extremist group and of having organized mass riots. On this subject informed Sputnik Belarus.
The case of the NEXTA telegram channel, recognized in Belarus as an extremist structure and a terrorist organization, is being examined by the Minsk district court. The public prosecutor also requested 20 years in prison for the channel’s founder, Stepan Putilo, and 19 years in prison for editor-in-chief Yan Rudik.
The prosecution noted that Putilo and Rudik had no mitigating circumstances and indicated that Protasevich had complied with the terms of the pre-trial agreement, so he could expect a mitigation of sentence. The prosecutor’s office asked the court to take the former NEXTA editor into custody after delivering the verdict, as well as to recover damages from the defendants totaling almost 30 million Belarusian rubles (968 million). Russian rubles).
Putilo and Rudik are abroad, they were arrested in absentia. Protasevich was arrested in Minsk in May 2021 after a Ryanair plane made an emergency landing due to a bomb threat on board. Subsequently, this was not confirmed. Protasevitch is under house arrest. Along with Protasevich, a Russian woman, Sofia Sapega, was arrested. In May 2022, the court sentenced her to six years in prison, finding her guilty of administering the Black Book of Belarus telegram channel, known to be extremist in the republic.
NEXTA employees are accused of:
incitement to social hatred and discord, organization of mass riots, training and training of their participants, organization of actions seriously undermining public order, public call for the seizure of state power and terrorist attacks, creating an extremist formation and leading it, publicly insulting the President of Belarus and slandering him.
Putilo is also accused of having organized the activities of a terrorist organization. Furthermore, the NEXTA founder and Rudik are accused of plotting to seize state power, fund extremist activities and discredit Belarus.
By data The prosecutor general’s offices, accused since 2020, being mainly in Poland, “in execution of the general conspiracy plan to seize state power” in Belarus published messages on the telegram channels NEXTA and “Belarus Brain” incitement to participate in mass riots, as well as the directed incitement to hatred and the use of violence.
These actions, according to the prosecution, have led to the fact that since July 14, 2020, “at least 1,586 crimes related to protest activities and extremist aspirations” have been recorded in Belarus. Putilo and Protasevich included to the list of persons involved in terrorist activities maintained by the Belarusian State Security Committee.
The NEXTA trial began on February 16. Roman Protasevich before the trial declared that “I am mentally and psychologically ready for any outcome”.
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