29.03.2024

Belarus Activist’s Girlfriend Held on Suspicion of ‘Crimes’

The Russian girlfriend of a Belarusian dissident arrested with him when their plane was diverted to Minsk is being held on suspicion of crimes at the time of protests last year, Moscow said Tuesday.

Sofiya Sapega, a 23-year-old law student at the European Humanities University (EHU) in Lithuania, was detained along with opposition journalist Roman Protasevich, 26, when their Athens-to-Vilnius flight was diverted to Minsk on Sunday.

The diversion, prompted by a supposed bomb scare, provoked a global outcry and Western leaders have been calling for both to be released.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement Tuesday that Sapega was being held on suspicion of «committing crimes» between August and September 2020.

That period corresponds with the outbreak of mass anti-government protests that rocked ex-Soviet Belarus after a disputed presidential election in August last year.

The charges against Sapega were not specified, but Zakharova said they are covered by several articles of the Belarusian criminal code.

After three days, there will be a ruling on whether to release her or put her in pre-trial detention, the statement added.

Zakharova said a Russian consul met on Monday with Sapega’s parents, who live in western Belarus.

Russia is expecting to get permission for a consular meeting with Sapega soon, she said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier Tuesday that he «hopes that in the near future» Sapega will be released.

Protasevich fled to Europe in 2019 from where he co-ran the Nexta Telegram channels, a key Belarus opposition media that helped mobilize protesters.

In Belarus, he faces charges of organizing mass unrest, an offense punishable by up to 15 years in jail.

Belarusian Man Goes Viral for Fishing Near Burning Field

We can all relate to the “This Is Fine” meme where a cartoon dog sips coffee in the center of a burning room — but none can relate more than this Belarusian fisherman, who continued angling for the best catch despite a fire blazing across the nearby field.

The blaze broke out this week across a floodplain of the Sluch River near the Belarusian city of Slutsk. This did not bother the fisherman, who stayed put while firemen extinguished the fire.

Video shot from a different angle shows a fireman trying to extinguish the flames as our stoic hero remains unbothered and continues to do what he does best.

While the video quickly went viral, racking up over 1 million views, the fisherman himself doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about.

“These fires happen every year. There is nothing new here. And every year these firemen are called and called all the time,” the fisherman, who asked the press to withhold his name, told the local Kurjer.info news website Wednesday.

It’s not the first time someone from the post-Soviet world has emulated the “This Is Fine” meme — in 2019, a boy in Russia’s Arctic went viral for continuing to play on a swing set while a major fire burned in the distance.

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