Forced Ryanair landing: Belarus sentences arrested blogger to eight years in prison

The blogger arrested after a Buzz-operated Ryanair flight was forced to land by Belarus has now been sentenced to eight years in prison “on charges of conspiracy against the state”.

The incident attracted international attention because the Buzz pilots were arrested by air traffic control into a safe landing in Minsk under false pretenses. The purpose of the action, which the World Aviation Association called “state hijacking”, was to arrest the bloger Roman Protasevich. Protalevich's Russian ex-partner Sofia Sapega, who was arrested with him, was sentenced to six years in prison and is to be transferred to Russia to serve her sentence.