A court in Belarus has convicted a dissident journalist who was arrested after being pulled off a Ryanair flight that was diverted to the country.
Roman Pratasevich stood trial on charges of organising unrest and plotting to seize power.
The court sentenced him to eight years in prison on Wednesday.
Pratasevich and his Russian girlfriend, Sofia Sapega, were arrested in May 2021 when their Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania was ordered to land in the capital of Belarus, Minsk.
The dramatic arrest elicited outrage in the West, with some leaders saying the plane’s diversion was tantamount to state-sponsored hijacking.
Belarusian flight controllers ordered the Ryanair jetliner to land, telling the crew that there was a bomb threat against the flight.
No explosives were found on board, and Pratasevich, who lived in exile at the time, was detained once the plane was on the ground.
Sapega, 24, was also arrested. She was sentenced in May last year to six years in prison for inciting social hatred.
In response, several Western countries imposed a raft of new sanctions and barred their planes from flying over Belarus.
Pratasevich ran a Telegram messaging app channel that was widely used by participants in mass protests against the disputed August 2020 election that gave authoritarian Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko a sixth term in office.
The reporter appeared on Belarusian state television in 2021, tearfully confessing to his role in anti-government protests.
Then foreign minister Dominic Raab condemned the interview, describing it as disturbing.
Mr Raab said: “Mr Protasevich’s disturbing interview last night was clearly under duress and in detention.
“The persecution of those defending human rights and media freedom in Belarus must stop.”
A video confession made by Sofia Sapega after the forced landing also appeared coerced, authorities said.
The founder of the Telegram channel, Stepan Putilo, and another editor of the channel, Yan Rudik, were sentenced in absentia to 20 and 19 years in prison respectfully. Both remain in exile.
