MOSCOW Roman Protasevich, the Belarusian opposition blogger arrested in 2021 after his Ryanair flight was forced to land in Minsk, was pardoned on Monday, the Belarusian state news agency BelTA reported.

Protasevich had been sentenced to eight years in prison this month for offences including inciting terrorism, organising mass disturbances and slandering Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Kevin Liffey)