A false bomb alarm and even fighter jets were involved: a RyanAir plane was forced to land by Belarus in order to arrest a passenger - a journalist.
Minsk - The Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko does what he wants in Belarus - he even lets planes land and arrests passengers. Authorities in the authoritarian republic have landed a plane in Minsk en route from Athens to the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, according to state media reports. The reason, apparently, was also on board the blogger Roman Protassewitsch, who was internationally sought after by the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko, who was arrested in Minsk, according to the Wesna Human Rights Center.
As opposition figures pointed out on Sunday, this would be an unprecedented encroachment on international airspace.
The opposition news channel
Nexta
(spoken: Nechta) also confirmed the arrest of its co-founder and former editor.
Lukashenko "hijacked" an airplane in violation of all laws, criticized the channel.
There was initially no comment from the airline RyanAir.
Alleged explosive device: Lukashenko himself gives the order to let the machine land
The authorities in Belarus had
classified Nexta
as extremist.
After the controversial presidential election in 2020, the channel had repeatedly called for mass protests against the ruler.
Protassewitsch is one of the many opposition activists who have been wanted internationally and whom Lukashenko has declared war himself.
The secret service KGB had put the journalist on a list of people who were accused of participating in terrorist acts, as the portal
does.by reported
to
Telegram
.
According to the state agency
Belta
, Lukashenko himself gave the order to land the plane in Minsk after an alarm about an explosive device on board the plane.
Fighter jet soars - false alarm for suspected bomb
A MiG-29 fighter jet had also climbed up to accompany them, as the airport confirmed.
Airport spokesmen announced in state media that the pilots on board the passenger plane had asked for permission to land.
Later, the information about the alleged bomb turned out to be a false alarm.
The airport shift supervisor, Maxim Kijakow, said on state television that the 123 passengers in the trans area were waiting for their onward flight.
The German federal government has requested a statement from Belarus.
The State Secretary in the Foreign Office, Miguel Berger, wrote on
that an "immediate declaration" was necessary.
"This is an unprecedented incident (...) The Belarus regime is behind this horrific action," wrote the Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda on the short message service Twitter. The president of the actual destination country of the flight demanded the immediate release of Protassevich. (
cg with dpa)
