Belarus jails student a year after forcing down the airliner she was traveling on

Sofia Sapega, a Russian citizen who was arrested with her Belarusian dissident boyfriend last year when Belarus forced the landing of a Ryanair passenger jet, has been sentenced to six years in prison, Russian state news agency TASS reports.

"The court finds Sapega guilty on charges of 'deliberate acts aimed at inciting social enmity and discord on the basis of social affiliation committed by a group of persons, which had grave consequences,'" said the verdict issued at Grodnensky District Court in Belarus.

The court on Friday also said Sapega was found guilty of illegally collecting and distributing personal data. She was sentenced to a month-long incarceration for this crime, and she also had to pay damages amounting to 167,500 Belarusian rubles (or roughly $65,000). The verdict can be appealed within a period of 10 days.