Belarus plane: Who is Russian student Sofia Sapega?

Belarus has charged Sofia Sapega with criminal offences, but further details are unknown

Sofia Sapega and her partner, dissident journalist Roman Protasevich, were detained by Belarusian authorities last month.

The pair had been travelling on a flight from Athens to Vilnius, in Lithuania on 23 May, when Belarus scrambled a military jet and forced their plane to land in Minsk - the Belarusian capital.

Western countries have accused Belarus of hijacking the Ryanair plane, which was rerouted over an alleged bomb threat.

Ms Sapega, a Russian national, is being held in a pre-trial detention centre in Minsk for two months "as a preventative measure", her lawyer Alexander Filanovich told the BBC.

Russian embassy officials who visited her in custody said she was in good health and had not complained about her treatment.

She and Mr Protesavich are being held in the same prison in Minsk.

Before their arrest she had travelled with Mr Protesavich to Athens, where he attended an economic forum in mid-May.

• Who is Roman Protasevich?

• Passengers describe panic on plane

• What happens with a military jet interception?

The couple have known each other for about six months, her mother Anna Dudich told the BBC.

"She is very smart, literate. My daughter is a very decent person," said Mrs Dudich. "I can assure you of this. She is a person of character."

In letters sent to her family from prison, Ms Sapega said she was "not giving in" and was "holding up" in prison.

"Everything has its end, including this misfortune", she wrote in one message that her mother shared with the BBC.

Ms Sapega was born in the Russian city of Vladivostok, according to her social media, but she lived almost her entire life in Belarus, one of her classmates told the BBC.

She is an international law student at the European Humanities University in Vilnius, and was due to defend her master's thesis soon after returning from Athens.

Russia's foreign ministry said she was accused of breaking Belarusian law in August and September of 2020. But it is unclear what these crimes are.

During those months, Belarus was rocked by anti-government protests after President Alexander Lukashenko was re-elected with 80% of the vote. Many have accused him of rigging the race.

A video statement by Ms Sapega has been released by Belarusian authorities

Mrs Dudich and several of Ms Sapega's classmates have told the BBC that she was not involved in the protests, and had been living in Vilnius since August last year.

Her mother has also denied that Ms Sapega was working for Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya while in Lithuania.

"Our child is an ordinary student, an ordinary girl who just met with Roman Protasevich. No more," said Mrs Dudich.

Since the pair's arrest, a video of Ms Sapega has been released by Belarusian authorities. In it, she says that she edits Black Book of Belarus - a Telegram channel which has published the personal information of security officials. Belarus has classified the channel as an extremist group.

But critics suggest that she made the statement under duress.

"We all think [the video] is a lie," one of her classmates told the BBC. "It is clear that the text is memorised. We don't believe it."

"I am sure that Sofa's detention has only one reason - to put pressure on Roman," they added.