Woman forced to land in Belarus gets 6 years in prison

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — A woman who ran a Belarusian opposition messaging app channel and was arrested along with her activist boyfriend when an airliner they were on was forced to land in Belarus has been convicted of charges that included inciting social hatred. Following her conviction on Friday, Sophia Sapega was sentenced to six years in prison. Sapega is a Russian citizen, and her lawye said she would appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin to intervene. Sapega and her boyfriend were flying from Athens to Vilnius, Lithuania a year ago when their plane was ordered to land in Belarus accompanied by a fighter jet because of an alleged bomb threat.