Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko purchased a Ryanair flight bring an essential opposition blog writer and headed for Lithuania to land in the Belarusian capital Minsk on Sunday and apprehended him on arrival, authorities and rights activists stated.
Law enforcers apprehended activist Roman Protasevich, placed on a desired list after in 2015’s mass street demonstrations following an election in which Lukashenko had actually declared a landslide success.
The airplane, flying over Belarus from Athens to Vilnius, had actually practically reached Lithuania when it altered instructions and was accompanied to Minsk in the middle of reports that it had dynamites on board, according to an online flight tracker and BelTA.
No dynamites were discovered, BelTA stated.
The Belarus department for the mob control likewise reported that Protasevich had actually been apprehended however then erased the declaration from its Telegram channel.
Ryanair and the Lithuanian ministry of foreign affairs had no instant remark.
Lukashenko personally purchased the warplane to escort the Ryanair Boeing to Minsk, state news firm BelTA reported.
In power because 1994, Lukashenko introduced a violent crackdown on the 2020 street demonstrations. Around 35,000 individuals have actually been apprehended because August, human rights groups state. Dozens have actually gotten prison terms. Authorities state that more than 1,000 criminal cases have actually been opened.
A Lithuanian airport authority spokesperson informed Reuters the aircraft, set up to land in Vilnius at 1100 GMT, was diverted to Minsk due to a dispute in between the team and a traveler.
The aircraft was anticipated to land in Vilnius from Minsk at 1500 GMT, she stated.
Protasevich is among the creators of the opposition news service NEXTA, a Telegram channel that has actually turned into one of the primary sources of news about presentations in Belarus. It is hostile to Lukashenko and assists to collaborate demonstrations.
Belarusian opposition political leader Svetlana Tikhanouskaya, Lukashenko’s primary competitor at the last election, stated Belarus authorities “placed at risk safety of passengers on board and all of the civil aviation for the sake of punishment of the man who was an editor of Belarus’s largest independent Telegram channel.”
