Sofia Sapega pardoned by Lukashenko after her plane was forced down in Minsk

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Belarus pardons Sofia Sapega, Russian citizen arrested on seized Ryanair flight

By Patrick Hilsman

 

Russian activist Sofia Sapega has returned to Russia after being pardoned by Belarusian dictator

Alexander Lukashenko. File Photo by EPA-EFE/Leonid Scheglov/BeITA Handout

June 8 (UPI) -- Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko pardoned Sofia Sapega, a Russian citizen who was arrested the Belarusian government after she was on a flight that was forced to land in Minsk in 2021.

Sapega returned to Russia Wednesday where she was greeted by the governor of the Primorye region, Oleg Kozhemyako, who took credit for her release in a statement posted to Telegram.

"Our compatriot Sofia Sapega got a unique chance to start life anew. She is free after my appeal to the President of the Republic of Belarus," said Kozhemyako.

In footage posted to Telegram following her release, local officials in Russia can be seen greeting Sapega, who thanked Lukashenko "for the opportunity to return home."

Sapega was detained along with her then-boyfriend, Belarusian activist Roman Protasevich, when the Belarusian government diverted a plane carrying the pair from Greece to Lithuania into Belarusian airspace under the pretext that there was an active bomb threat.

In May, Protasevich, said he also received a pardon, that he had "signed all the relevant documents," and that "of course this is great news."

Protasevich said he would go to "a quiet place in the countryside for a couple of days... in order to take a breather and start to move forward."

The Belarusian government accused Sapega of being the editor behind the Black Book of Belarus channel, alleging she had posted personal information of security personnel. Her lawyer, Anton Gashinsky, said he didn't previously believe a pardon was likely.

"There was little hope. Thank god it worked out," Gashinsky told the Russian state-backed TASS news agency. Gashinsky said Sapega was back in Russia and that "she went to her father."

Sapega and Protasevich were arrested after the Ryanair flight flew over Belarus as military aircraft forced it to land in Minsk in what was later revealed as a Belarusian plot to detain them.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency blocked civil aviation from Belarusian airspace following the kidnapping and the European Union also blocked Belarusian civil aviation from its airspace.

The U.N. Human Rights Commission said the plane was "hijacked" so the Belarusian regime could "abduct" the pair.

It's called "arrest", not "abduct" in the rest of the world.

Protasevich was accused of running the Nexta Live Telegram channel that covered the regime's crackdown following the 2020 election, which was broadly denounced as fraudulent by international observers.

The Nexta organization was designated as a terrorist group by the regime.

Members of the European Parliament denounced the elections as illegitimate, issuing a statement that they do not recognize Lukashenko as the elected president.

In May 2022, Sapega was sentenced to six years and Protasevich was sentenced to eight years.

Russian Tycoon Khodorkovsky got Oil Giant Yukos with a Bribe & Robbed Western Shareholders

Corruption is Everywhere - And Most Definitely in Russia

FILE PHOTO: Mikhail Khodorkovsky. ©  Reuters / Axel Schmidt

A TV report, citing an ongoing probe, claims Russian oligarch-turned-opposition figure Mikhail Khodorkovsky took control over the oil giant Yukos by bribing its managers and then siphoned off billions of dollars from shareholders.

Having spent a decade in prison in Russia after being found guilty of tax evasion and embezzlement, Khodorkovsky, once Russia’s richest man, may now face more charges. A new probe into his activities, launched by the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, has revealed that the businessman laid his hands on the now-defunct oil giant as a result of a shady deal, the report by the Russia’s NTV Channel says.

It reveals that, in the mid-1990s, Khodorkovsky managed to win the right for his companies to buy almost 80 percent of Yukos’s shares by bribing the company’s management. The businessman allegedly promised the then-Yukos director Sergey Muravlenko and three more top managers to pay them an equivalent of 15 percent of the oil giant’s shares – or some $2 billion – Salavat Karimov, an adviser to Russia’s Prosecutor General, told NTV.

“He indeed transferred hundreds of millions [of dollars] to the offshore accounts opened in the names of these four Yukos top managers,” Karimov said.

While he did not name the exact sum of the bribe money, NTV reported that it amounted to $250 million. The top managers then lobbied for Yukos shares to be mostly handed over to the “effective investor” Khodorkovsky, which his company eventually purchased for a giveaway price of just $9 million. It also obtained a right to buy additional 45 percent of shares as a result of a “special clause.”

While Khodorkovsky has already faced charges of tax evasion and embezzlement, a major revelation seems to be that he fooled Yukos’s minor shareholders big-time, with a whopping $51 billion siphoned off to offshore accounts, according to the probe. 

The businessman employed “dozens” of criminal schemes to rob his business partners, which reportedly included JP Morgan, Barclays, Raiffeisen Bank, UBS, Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse. In particular, he bought oil from Yukos affiliates at dumping prices, presenting it as “borehole liquid,” and then sold it on at full price.

The money went to offshore accounts in the British territories – the Cayman Islands, Gibraltar and the Guernsey islands. They were then laundered through a specially created company Quadrum, which purchased real estate in the UK and the US. According to Karimov, some $10 billion was also transferred to the Netherlands.

Khodorkovsky, who is currently based in London and enjoys the limelight of accorded to a top Vladimir Putin critic in the west, has dismissed the information published by NTV, saying he “could not care less” about what he called a “sham investigation.”

The former oil tycoon was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2005 following a lengthy legal battle, which was increased to 11 years after the second trial ended in late 2010. He was pardoned by President Putin in 2013 and left Russia for Germany, Switzerland and then the UK.

In 2015, Russian prosecutors accused Khodorkovsky of ordering the murder of the mayor of Siberian city Nefteyugansk, Vladimir Petukhov, and an attempted assassination of businessman Evgeny Rybin. He was then placed on an international wanted list.

Thousands Protest in Peru After 'Grateful' Ex-President Pardoned

Corruption is Everywhere - Including Peru

By Susan McFarland  

Riot police officers block passage of protesters during a demonstration against the pardon to ex-president Alberto Fujimori, in Lima, Peru on Monday. Photo by Eduardo Cavero/EPA-EFE

UPI -- Police in Peru fired tear gas at crowds of angry Peruvians during a protest over President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski's decision to pardon and release former President Alberto Fujimori from prison.

Crowds chanted, "traitor" and, "the pardon has got to go" during the clash on the streets of Lima.

Fujimori, who'd been serving a 25-year sentence for human rights abuses, was released Sunday for health reasons. He was Peru's leader from 1990 to 2000.

From his hospital bed, Fujimori thanked Kuczynski and said in a Facebook video he was "deeply grateful." He added that hearing the news had "a strong impact on me, a mix of extreme happiness as well as sorrow".

"I'm aware that the results produced by my government were well received by some," Fujimori said. "But I recognize that I have let down others. Those I ask for forgiveness from the bottom of my heart."

Fujimori's term began in 2007 with a six-year sentence for bribery and abuse of power. Two years into that sentence, Fujimori was given another 25 years for human rights abuses that included authorizing death squad killings.

Kuczynski said reason for clemency was because Fujimori has low blood pressure and an irregular heartbeat. A statement by Kuczynski said he is "convinced that those of us who consider ourselves democrats cannot allow Alberto Fujimori to die in prison."

"Justice is not vengeance. All pardons are by nature controversial," he added. "My decision is especially complex and difficult, but it is my decision. I can not only be the president of those that voted for me, I need to be it for all Peruvians."

Kuczynski denies pardoning Fujimori is part of a deal with his party to distract from a corruption probe involving Brazil-based conglomerate Odebrecht.

Peruvian lawmakers Vicente Zeballos, Alberto de Belaunde and Gino Costa all said they plan to resign in protest of the presidential pardon.

Saudi Blogger Raif Badawi has Sentence Suspended: Swiss Official

Royal pardon by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudia Arabia

in works

This is probably the best international news you will hear today,

let's hope and pray it is accurate

CBC News 

Montreal has been the site of several demonstrations in support of
Saudi Arabian blogger Raif Badawi. (Thomas Daigle/CBC)

Jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi is having his sentence of 1,000 lashes suspended, the Swiss secretary of Foreign Affairs has told a Swiss newspaper.

"I have been told his sentence has been suspended," Yves Rossier told the Fribourg daily newspaper La Liberté.

Rossier said he brought up the matter while on an official visit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

"A royal pardon is in the works thanks to the head of state, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud," he added.

Badawi's wife and three children live in Quebec's Eastern Townships region.

Badawi was arrested in June 2012 for criticizing Saudi Arabian clerics on his website. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes. He was also fined $266,000.

Because 1,000 lashes at once would likely be fatal, Saudi judges decreed that Badawi would be whipped in installments of 50 lashes for 20 weeks.

Badawi was flogged for the first time on Jan. 9 but  further instalments have been postponed.