Girlfriend of Belarusian blogger 'confesses' in video, opposition cries foul

FILE PHOTO: Student Sofia Sapega poses for a picture in Gothenburg, Sweden, in this undated photo taken in 2019. REUTERS/Stringer

The girlfriend of a Belarusian blogger detained with him on Sunday after a plane they were travelling on was forced to land in Belarus appeared in a video on Tuesday evening in which she made a confession that the opposition said looked forced.

Speaking fast and looking uncomfortable, Sofia Sapega, a Russian citizen and the girlfriend of blogger Roman Protasevich, said in the video that she was an editor of a Telegram messaging app channel that had publicised the personal data of Belarusian law enforcement personnel, a crime in Belarus.

A Ryanair passenger jet carrying Protasevich, a journalist critical of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, and Sapega was forced to land in Belarus on Sunday due to a bomb hoax in an act denounced by Western powers as "state piracy".

A view shows a woman, who names herself Sofia Sapega and admits that she is the editor of a Telegram channel "Chernaya Kniga Belarusi" (Black Book of Belarus) which discloses the personal information of internal affairs officers, at an unknown location, in this still image taken from video released May 25, 2021. Russian citizen Sofia Sapega and Belarusian opposition activist and blogger Roman Protasevich were detained by Belarusian authorities after a forced landing of Ryanair Flight 4978 flying from Athens to Vilnius in Minsk on May 23, 2021. Telegram Channel "Zheltye Slivy"/Reuters TV via REUTERS

The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement that Sapega, a 23-year-old student, could face criminal charges under several articles of the Belarusian criminal code.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the leader of the Belarusian opposition who operates from nearby Lithuania, said on Twitter that Sapega appeared to be under psychological pressure.

Franak Viacorka, an adviser to Tsikhanouskaya, said on Twitter that Sapega's confession appeared to have been made under duress.

"She is guilty of being a friend of Roman. And they forced her to confess to 'crimes' she did not commit," he wrote.

Belarusian authorities will keep Sapega in a pre-trial detention facility for two months, the TASS news agency reported, citing her father, Sergey Dudich.

Sapega's mother, Anna Dudich, said in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday that her daughter was innocent and simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Sapega felt fine and had not complained of inappropriate treatment, the RIA news agency reported, citing Russia's embassy to Belarus.

Sapega is a student at a university in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. She was flying there on Sunday with Protasevich after their holiday in Greece to defend her master's thesis ahead of graduation, according to the university.

(Reporting by Polina Devitt, Anton Kolodyazhnyy and Marina Bobrova; writing by Polina Devitt; editing by Mark Heinrich/ Grant McCool/Andrew Osborn)