Jailed Belarusian Pratasevich Dogged By Claims He Fought For Azov Battalion In Ukraine
June 09, 2021 15:14 GMT
Share
share
Raman Pratasevich's life has been turned upside down fast.
On May 23, months after he left Belarus to avoid prosecution on incitement charges he said were trumped-up by Alyaksandr Lukashenka's government, the journalist and blogger was arrested, along with his girlfriend, after their Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius was diverted to Minsk following what is widely believed to have been a
behind civil disturbances, an offense punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Informally, by Belarusian state media and others, he has been accused of fighting in the war in eastern Ukraine with the Azov Battalion, a nationalist force with neo-Nazi roots that has played a prominent role in the conflict that erupted as Kremlin-backed separatists seized parts of the Donbas in 2014.