Sofya Sapega agrees to extradition to Russia

April 12, BPN. The Russian consul in Belarus has visited the convicted Russian national Sofya Sapega (Safija Sapieha) in prison and received her consent for extradition, Russia’s TASS reported, citing the Russian embassy’s spokesman Alexei Moskalev.

Russian and Belarusian law enforcement agencies are working on technical details of the extradition procedure, the diplomat said. Sapega may continue serving her sentence in a Russian prison.

Police arrested Sapega and opposition blogger Raman Pratasievič at Minsk airport in May 2021 following the forced landing of the Ryanair flight en route from Athens to Vilnius.

In May 2022, the Hrodna Regional Court sentenced Sapega to six years in prison for administering the opposition Telegram channel Chernaya Kniga Belarusi (Black Book of Belarus), an online project exposing the identities of security officers. She did not appeal the verdict and asked Alaksandr Łukašenka for a pardon who rejected her request in early January.

On March 14, Belarusian Committee for State Security (KGB) added Sapega to the list of people it says are involved in “terrorist activities.”