10-year sentence asked for journalist forced down in Belarus

By YURAS KARMANAU
Associated Press

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Prosecutors have requested a 10-year prison sentence for a dissident Belarusian journalist who was arrested after a warplane forced down a commercial airliner he was taking to Lithuania. Raman Pratasevich is on trial in Belarus on charges of organizing unrest and plotting to seize power. He ran a Telegram messaging app channel that was widely used by participants in mass protests against the disputed August 2020 election that gave Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko a sixth term. Pratasevich lived in exile at the time, but he and his girlfriend were arrested in May 2021 when their Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania was ordered to land in Belarus. Pratasevich appeared healthy at his trial on Friday.