President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko pardoned blogger and former editor-in-chief of the opposition NEXTA Telegram channel (the channel is recognized as extremist in Belarus) Roman Protasevich. The blogger himself told reporters about this on Monday, May 22.
“Literally, I just signed all the relevant documents stating that I was pardoned. This, of course, is just great news, ”BelTA quotes him as saying.
It is noted that the decree on pardoning Lukashenka was signed on May 16. Protasevich expressed gratitude to Belarus and the country’s president for the decision.
“I hope it only gets better,” he added.
The blogger said that he did not intend to leave Belarus, he wants to be useful to the state. The ex-editor-in-chief of NEXTA noted that he already has some professional plans, but is not yet sure of their implementation.
The pardon has not yet been officially confirmed.
On May 3, the Minsk Regional Court sentenced Protasevich to eight years in prison. It was established that the ex-editor of NEXTA published destructive information materials and called on protesting citizens to commit acts of terrorism.
Later, on May 18, the court reported that the verdict had entered into force, the blogger did not appeal the decision of the judges. To a clarifying question about whether Protasevich was taken into custody, the representative of the court noted that “this is in the order of execution.” Until that time, the convict remained under house arrest.
Protasevich was detained in Minsk in May 2021. He confessed to the case of organizing protests in Belarus.
