MINSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st April, 2023) Belarusian state prosecutor Natalya Sokolova has requested a 10-year prison term for Roman Protasevich, the chief editor and co-founder of the Nexta opposition Telegram channel that Minsk designates as extremist, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Friday.
The state prosecutor also requested 19-years' incarceration for the channel's former editor Yan Rudik and 20-years' imprisonment for Nexta's co-founder, Stepan Putilo.
Sokolova added that the damage to the state from the three's activities amounted to almost 31 million Belarusian rubles ($10.5 million).
Protasevich, Putilo and Rudik have been charged with incitement of social enmity and discord, organization of mass riots, public calls for the seizure of power or acts of terrorism, as well as other actions threatening the national security of Belarus, the creation of an extremist organization, slander and public insults against the Belarusian president.
They fled abroad after Belarusian security forces cracked down on protesters, but Protasevich was arrested after his Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania was grounded in Belarus in May 2021.
In April 2022, the Supreme Court of Belarus designated Nexta and other affiliated Telegram channels as terrorist organizations. Following the 2020 Belarusian election in which President Alexander Lukashenko secured his sixth term in office, activists actively used this channel network to share information and coordinate anti-government protests.
