The Supreme Court of Belarus announced on Friday that Russian Law Student Sofia Sapega was sentenced in the Grodno Regional Court to six years in prison for participating in opposition activities in the country. Saepga was convicted of inciting social hatred and disseminating personal information without consent, charges that together carry a maximum of 15 years in prison. Belarusian officials accused Sapega of operating a Telegram channel that spread “personal data of public and military officials who participated in massive crackdowns” during the 2020 Belarusian protests. Sapega and his partner, opposition journalist Roman Protasevich, were arrested in 2021. after his The flight from Greece to Lithuania was forcibly diverted to Belarus. Protesevich was editor-in-chief of the Telegram channel “NEXTA”, a Belarusian media outlet that “played a leading role in organizing protests against Lukashenko” after the country’s disputed 2020 presidential election. Russian state news agency TASS reported that the The Kremlin refuses to comment on the sentence, saying that since the Kremlin disapproves of comments on Russian court proceedings, it will not comment on proceedings in “friendly” Belarus. Belarus’s treatment of Sapega and Protesevich has been widely criticized. Ekaterina Vinokurova, a member of Russia’s Presidential Council for Human Rights, called the phrase “crazy,” saying Russia has a duty to protect all its citizens abroad, regardless of their political views. In January, the US Justice Department charged four Belarusian officials with “air piracy” for fabricating the bomb threat that diverted the fight from Sapega and Protasevich to Minsk. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned the diversion almost immediately, saying that “Such abuse of state power against a journalist for exercising functions that are protected by international law is receiving and deserves the strongest condemnation.” Protasevich has not yet been tried. charges of inciting mass riots.