The Belarusian opposition channel Nexta announced this Sunday that one of his former collaborators had been arrested after the emergency landing of his plane in Minsk, denouncing in this incident a new crackdown on the regime of President Alexander Lukashenko.
Roman Protassevich, 26, was apprehended at Minsk airport when an aircraft descended from Athens and was bound for Vilnius in Lithuania, Nexta explained on social media.
According to this source, the plane was deviated from its path following a "bomb threat".
For its part, the press service of the Belarusian presidency affirmed on Telegram that a MiG-29 fighter plane had been sent by the army to intercept this device.
An arrest that the Lithuanian president described as "abject".
“An unprecedented event!
A civilian passenger plane flying to Vilnius (the capital of Lithuania, editor's note) was forced to land in #Minsk, ”he wrote on his Twitter account.
Unprecedented event!
A civilian passenger plane flying to Vilnius was forcibly landed in #Minsk.
Belarusian political activist & founder of @NEXTA_EN was on the plane.
He is arrested.
🇧🇾 regime is behind the abhorrent action.
I demand to free Roman Protasevič urgently!
- Gitanas Nausėda (@GitanasNauseda) May 23, 2021
Last November, the Belarusian security services (KGB) placed Roman Protassevich on the list of "individuals involved in terrorist activities".
The young man is a former collaborator of Nexta, media having played a leading role in the great wave of protest against the re-election in 2020 of President Alexander Lukashenko, who has held this position since 1994.
Risk of death penalty
This arrest was immediately condemned by the figure of the Belarusian opposition in exile, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.
On Twitter, she assured that the regime had "forced" the plane of Roman Protassevich who, according to her, "faces the death penalty in Belarus".
The regime forced the landing @Ryanair plane in Minsk to arrest journalist and activist Raman Pratasevich.
He faces the death penalty in Belarus.
We demand immediate release of Raman, @ICAO investigation, and sanctions against Belarus.
pic.twitter.com/ondPBd0kU9
- Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (@Tsihanouskaya) May 23, 2021
The protest movement gathered tens of thousands of people in the capital Minsk and other cities during the summer and fall, a huge mobilization for a country of barely 9.5 million inhabitants.
But the protest gradually faltered in the face of mass arrests, police violence that left at least four people dead, ongoing judicial harassment and heavy prison sentences imposed on activists and journalists.