Belarusian authorities today arrested the initiator of an online channel, key to the exchange of information between opponents of President Alexander Lukashenko, after the plane he was on was diverted to Minsk due to a bomb threat.
Lukashenka's cabinet announced that he personally ordered a MiG-29 fighter jet to escort the Ryanair plane, which was flying from the Greek capital Athens to the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, to Minsk airport.
The co-founder of the channel in the Telegram application, journalist Roman Protasevich, was arrested at the airport in Minsk, the Belarusian Ministry of Internal Affairs announced.
The Belarusian authorities declared the channel extremist last year because it was used to organize mass demonstrations against Lukashenko.
Protasevich, who previously escaped from Belarus to Poland, faces a prison sentence of up to 15 years.
Lukashenko's cabinet stated that the bomb threat was received while the plane was over Belarus.
Belarusian officials later stated that no explosives were found on the plane. The company Rajaner has not advertised for now.
Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tihanovskaya, who also fled the country, called on the International Civil Aviation Organization to open an investigation.
"It is absolutely obvious that this is an operation by the special services with the aim of hijacking the plane to arrest the activist and blogger Roman Protasevich. Not a single person flying over Belarus can be sure of his safety," said Tihanovskaya.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda accused Belarus of a "disgusting action" and demanded the release of Protašević, the BBC reports.
The Belarusian government, headed by the authoritarian Lukashenko, began a harsh crackdown on dissidents when mass anti-government protests broke out across the country after the August 9 presidential election.
Protests over the official results of the vote, according to which Lukashenko won more than 80 percent of the vote, lasted until the arrival of a harsh winter, despite the efforts of the authorities to quell them with arrests and repression of demonstrators and activists.
Since August, more than 34.000 people have been arrested for participating in demonstrations, thousands of whom have been brutally beaten by the police.
Independent media and journalists were also targeted by the authorities, even after the protests died down.
Last Sunday, the authorities arrested 11 employees of the popular Belarusian portal TUT.
EU leaders have condemned the arrest of the Belarusian activist, demand the release of all the passengers of the plane
The leaders of the European Union (EU) today condemned the actions of the Belarusian authorities who arrested Protasevich and appealed to enable everyone on that flight to continue their journey.
The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said that the EU is "carefully following" the events related to today's Ryanair flight from Athens, Greece to Vilnius, Lithuania, which, he said, "was forced to land in Minsk due to an alleged security threat."
"That is completely unacceptable. We consider the Belarusian government responsible for the safety of all passengers of that plane. All passengers must be allowed to continue their journey immediately," Borel said on Twitter.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, also called on Belarus to "let all passengers" go, France Press reports.
Germany requested an "urgent explanation" from Belarus about the interception of the plane carrying Protasevich and his arrest. "We demand an immediate explanation from the government of Belarus about the diversion of the Ryanair flight between EU members to Minsk and the alleged arrest of the journalist," said a senior official of the German Foreign Ministry, Miguel Berger, on Twitter.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called Protasevich's arrest "an act of state terrorism."
"I strongly condemn the arrest of Roman Protasevich by the Belarusian authorities after the hijacking of the Ryanair passenger plane. It is an act of state terrorism," Moraviecki said on Twitter.
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