Mother of detained Belarus blogger’s girlfriend hopes for a miracle | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Friday
May 30, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
FRIDAY, MAY 30, 2025
Mother of detained Belarus blogger’s girlfriend hopes for a miracle

World+Biz

Reuters
26 May, 2021, 12:25 pm
Last modified: 26 May, 2021, 12:32 pm

Related News

  • Brother, sister waiting to cuddle the miracle baby girl
  • Russia-led fund in talks with Belarus on aid but wants reforms
  • 'Miracle' pair found alive after days in Australian outback
  • Why India can’t repeat its 1991 miracle
  • Time to focus on ‘Bangladesh Model’ moving from ‘Bangladesh Miracle’: Radwan Mujib

Mother of detained Belarus blogger’s girlfriend hopes for a miracle

Sofia Sapega, 23, who is from Belarus, steered clear of politics, her mother Anna Dudich told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday

Reuters
26 May, 2021, 12:25 pm
Last modified: 26 May, 2021, 12:32 pm
Student Sofia Sapega poses for a picture in Gothenburg, Sweden, in this undated photo taken in 2019. She and Belarusian dissident journalist Roman Protasevich were arrested in Belarus on May 23, 2021 after a forced landing of Ryanair Flight 4978 flying from Athens to Vilnius. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo/File Photo
Student Sofia Sapega poses for a picture in Gothenburg, Sweden, in this undated photo taken in 2019. She and Belarusian dissident journalist Roman Protasevich were arrested in Belarus on May 23, 2021 after a forced landing of Ryanair Flight 4978 flying from Athens to Vilnius. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo/File Photo

The mother of dissident journalist Roman Protasevich's girlfriend, who was arrested with him in Belarus after their plane was forced to land there, said her daughter was innocent and simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Sofia Sapega, 23, who is from Belarus, steered clear of politics, her mother Anna Dudich told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.

The young couple were returning from a two-week vacation in Greece on Sunday when their Ryanair flight to Vilnius was forced to land in Minsk. Sapega was detained on Sunday, and on Tuesday her lawyer was told she was being held for two months.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

Speaking from the Belarus town of Lida, Dudich said she feared for her daughter's health and safety in detention.

"Of course, this is the main thing which I fear now," she said. "She is a very tough girl in a moral sense. She will get through, she will withstand, I'm sure of that."

Neither Dudich nor the lawyer have been able to contact Sapega since her detention, and have not been informed of any charges against her.

"My hopes are now probably based on a miracle and on the knowledge that my daughter is definitely not guilty of anything," Dudich said. "She simply showed up in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Sofia, a Russian citizen, is in the final year of international law studies at the European Humanities University in Vilnius. Dudich said she had not spoken to Protasevich, 26, and that her daughter had been in a relationship with him for less than six months.

A passenger on the diverted flight told Reuters that, as Protasevich realized he was about to be arrested, he handed Sapega his laptop and phone for safekeeping.

"She was a very good student," Dudich said. "She had very ambitious plans."

On the eve of the flight, her daughter called Dudich to tell her about her Greek vacation. Then she sent one final text after the plane was forced to land in Belarus.

"In Minsk she just wrote me 'Mama'. And that was it."

Belarus blogger / Belarus blogger's girlfriend / Miracle

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus meets Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru in Japan on 30 May 2025. Photo: CA Office
    Japan's PM reiterates full support for CA's reform initiatives
  • Two people move furnitures as continuous rain causes waterlog in Dhaka road on Thursday, 29 May 2025. Photo: Collected
    Deep depression weakening, heavy rains to continue across Bangladesh
  • Photo collage of the sailors and their catch. Photos: Shahid Sarkar
    Between sky and sea: The thrilling life afloat on a fishing ship

MOST VIEWED

  • Photo: Courtesy
    New notes featuring historic, archaeological structures of Bangladesh to be circulated from 1 June
  • Two Memoranda of Understanding were signed at the seminar titled “Bangladesh Seminar on Human Resources,” in Tokyo on 29 May 2025. Photo: CA Press Wing
    Japan to recruit 100,000 Bangladeshi workers over next 5 years
  • Representational Photo: Collected
    Country's all jewellery shops to remain indefinitely closed in protest of VP Reponul's arrest: Bajus
  • BAT Bangladesh has to vacate Mohakhali HQ as SC rejects lease appeal
    BAT Bangladesh has to vacate Mohakhali HQ as SC rejects lease appeal
  • Illustration: TBS
    Bangladesh repays $3.5b foreign debt in 10 months of FY25
  • Khondoker Rashed Maqsood. File Photo: Collected
    Investors urge removal of BSEC chairman in meeting with CA’s special assistant, submit list of demands

Related News

  • Brother, sister waiting to cuddle the miracle baby girl
  • Russia-led fund in talks with Belarus on aid but wants reforms
  • 'Miracle' pair found alive after days in Australian outback
  • Why India can’t repeat its 1991 miracle
  • Time to focus on ‘Bangladesh Model’ moving from ‘Bangladesh Miracle’: Radwan Mujib

Features

Photo collage of the sailors and their catch. Photos: Shahid Sarkar

Between sky and sea: The thrilling life afloat on a fishing ship

1h | Features
For hundreds of small fishermen living near this delicate area, sustainable fishing is a necessity for their survival. Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain

World Ocean Day: Bangladesh’s ‘Silent Island’ provides a fisheries model for the future

17h | The Big Picture
The university will be OK. But will the US? Photo: Bloomberg

A weaker Harvard is a weaker America

17h | Panorama
The Botanical Garden is a refuge for plant species, both native and exotic. Photo: Mehedi Hasan/TBS

The hidden cost of 'development' in the Botanical Garden

17h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Record migrant deaths in 2024

Record migrant deaths in 2024

14h | Podcast
News of The Day, 29 MAY 2025

News of The Day, 29 MAY 2025

16h | TBS News of the day
Businesses set for relief as interim govt eyes major tax & fine cuts

Businesses set for relief as interim govt eyes major tax & fine cuts

19h | TBS Insight
Love is essential for human life

Love is essential for human life

18h | TBS Programs
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net