The Belarusian opposition channel Nexta said Sunday that one of its former collaborators had been arrested after an emergency landing of a flight he was on in Minsk.
Roman Pratasevich, 26, was apprehended at Minsk airport after Ryanair flight FR4978 from Athens to Vilnius in Lithuania, was diverted to Belarus.
The editor-in-chief of Nexta said on Twitter that the plane was diverted following a “bomb threat”, and the Belarusian Presidency press service claimed on Telegram that a MiG-29 fighter jet had been sent by the military to intercept the aircraft.
Last November, the Belarusian security services (KGB) placed Pratasevich on the list of “individuals involved in terrorist activities”.
The young man is a former collaborator of Nexta, a media platform that’s played a leading role in the wave of protests in Belarus against the 2020 re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko, who has held this position since 1994.
This arrest was immediately condemned by Belarusian opposition in exile leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.
On Twitter, she said the regime had “forced” the plane to Minsk, and Pratasevich now “faces the death penalty in Belarus”.
The protest movement following the August 2020 presidential election ruled fraudulent by the opposition and western countries gathered tens of thousands of people in Minsk and other cities, a huge mobilization for a country of 9.5 million inhabitants.
But the protests gradually faltered in the face of mass arrests and police violence that left at least four people dead, ongoing judicial harassment and heavy prison sentences imposed on activists and journalists.
Gabrielius Landsbergis, the Foreign Minister of Lithuania said on Twitter that they are working with international partners to get the passengers securely to Vilnius.
Member of European Parliament from Slovakia Vladimir Bilcik said in reference to the President of Belarus: “Lukashenka cannot take #EU flights hostage. This is an unacceptable act of hostility. We must respond with much tougher measures towards the regime in Minsk.”