Journalist For A Telegram Channel Arrested After Providing The Means To Criticize Belarus President

Commercial Ryanair Boeing 737-800 flight FR4978 from Athens, Greece to Lithuania was reportedly escorted by a MiG-29 fighter jet.

The pilot was told to divert the plane and turn east shortly before it reached the Lithuanian border, and land on Belarus capital of Minsk.

It was said that the cause was a bomb threat.

But international leaders are calling this a ploy to arrest Raman Pratasevich, a journalist for the Nexta channel on the Telegram app.

Extremists were said to gather on the Telegram channel to coordinate protests against Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko.

And also because Pratasevich was critical of the country’s President, this angered the Belarus government.

It all began when Ryanair was notified of a “potential security threat” by Belarus.

The plane was "instructed to divert to the nearest airport, Minsk," while in fact, the plane was actually nearer to its destination in Vilnius than Minsk by the time it diverted.

Belarus had notified the airline of a bomb threat but no explosives were found.

When the pilot announced that the plane was diverting, one passenger said that Protasevich looked "super scared. I looked directly to his eyes and it was very sad".

“At first he panicked, then calmed down a bit, but still was trembling,” said another passenger. “He said he’ll face the death penalty here. He was taken aside, his belongings dumped on the runway.”

“I saw this Belarusian guy with girlfriend sitting right behind us,” explained another passenger. “He freaked out when the pilot said the plane is diverted to Minsk. He said there’s death penalty awaiting him there.”

“Then they started releasing passengers and took those two. We did not see them again.”

Raman Pratasevich was arrested soon after the plane landed.

Four other people were taken off the plane in Minsk, said Lithuania Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas

The plane finally landed in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, its original destination, at 21:25 local time (18:25 GMT), more than seven hours after its scheduled arrival.

"We apologize sincerely to all affected passengers for this regrettable delay which was outside Ryanair's control," said Ryanair in a statement.

It was later revealed that the Ryanair Flight 4978 with Protasevich on board, diverted by the direct order Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

According to his press service, it was the President who personally ordered the plane redirected to Minsk and sent a Belarusian Air Force MiG-29 fighter aircraft equipped with air-to-air missiles to escort it.

NEXTA is a media operation with a Telegram channel, and has prominent visibility on social media networks.

The 26-year-old Raman Pratasevich, the Belarusian national as one of the main figures behind the channel, allowed NEXTA to play a key role for the Belarus opposition during the election, and has continued to so in its aftermath, particularly with the government imposing news blackouts.

Protasevich left Belarus in 2019, after criminal charges were filed against him in the country.

Pratasevich and his NEXTA colleague Stsiapan Putsila were accused of being activities who organize mass unrest and group actions that severely violating public order, the Investigative Committee said on November 5.

They were also accused of stirring “social hatred” against law enforcers through their Telegram channels.

It is said that the arrest may also allow the authorities in Belarus to obtain information about Pratasevich’s collaborators, facilitating a broader repression of independent reporting.

For what he did, Protasevich is said to face a death penalty in Belarus as he has been categorized as a terrorist.

This incident has the potential to influence the already strained ties between President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin, even as the two leaders plan to meet in at their potential first summit.

This can also worsen already dire relations between the West and Belarus, which has been tightly controlled since 1994 by President Alexander Lukashenko.

Following the arrest, NEXTA was the first that announced the incident.

European nations reacted with outrage, accusing Belarus of "state terrorism".

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg tweeted that the incident was a "serious and dangerous incident, which requires international investigation.”

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab warned in a tweet, saying that the event is an "outlandish action" would have "serious implications".

Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in a tweet that he condemns "in the strongest terms the detention of Roman Protasevich by Belarussian authorities," adding that it's "a reprehensible act of state terrorism."

German Foreign Minister Heiko Mass denounced Belarus’s actions, saying in a tweet that he is very "concerned," and wants Belarus to "immediately guarantee the safety, integrity and freedom of all passengers and release Roman Protasevich. "

France, Greece and other European countries are also among those rushing to express their anger.

The U.S. Ambassador to Belarus, Julie Fisher, tweeted that it was "abhorrent" Lukashenko had faked a bomb threat and sent a fighter jet to arrest one journalist.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Biden administration is demanding the journalist’s release and calling for an international investigation.

“The United States strongly condemns the forced diversion of a flight between two EU member states and the subsequent removal and arrest of journalist Raman Pratasevich,” Blinken said in a statement. “Initial reports suggesting the involvement of the Belarusian security services and the use of Belarusian military aircraft to escort the plane are deeply concerning and require full investigation.”

Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who was defeated by Alexander Lukashenko in the 2020 presidential polls widely denounced as rigged, was among those people who demand Protasevich's release.

Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the EU's executive European Commission, said in a tweet that Belarus' action was "utterly unacceptable".

The UN's agency for civil aviation, ICAO, said it was concerned about an "apparent forced landing" which could be "in contravention of the Chicago Convention" which sets out the rules on airspace and aircraft safety.

Lithuania's President Gitanas Nausėda said in a tweet that the incident is an "unprecedented event!"

Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte arrived at the airport in Vilnius with a prosecutor to question the arriving passengers, and the prime minister announced an investigation.

Edgars Rinkēvičs, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia, in a tweet said that the "hijacking of Ryanair flight by Lukashenko regime shows that Belarusian airspace is not safe, people’s lives were put at risk and kidnaping of a political opponent took place."

Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko, born on August 31, 1954, is at this time, the Belarusian President.

Following his career in the military, he then became a politician. And after taking office, Lukashenko continued state ownership of key industries in Belarus after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Lukashenko is known as a leader who heads Belarus with an authoritarian government, and for more than often, been referred to by media outlets as "Europe's last dictator."

Media is not free in the country, and elections are not considered to be free and fair by international monitors, in which Lukashenko's opponents are repressed.

It was Lukashenko's victory in 2020's Presidential election that many have strongly denied. Reports suggested that Lukashenko's victory was based to vote rigging, which amplified protests. Lukashenko's regime had protesters faced violent persecution by the authorities, in which the UN's Human Rights Office on 1 September cited more than 450 documented cases of torture and ill-treatment of detainees, as well as reports of sexual abuse and rape.

This is why among other reasons, Lukashenko is at this time, not recognized by the United Kingdom, European Union and the United States as the legitimate president of Belarus.

Belarus' relationship with Russia is also not well.

Tensions were seen since 2020, when Lukashenko publicly accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of trying to make Belarus a part of Russia. Later that year, a number of military contractors were arrested in Minsk, and Lukashenko accused Russia of collaborating with activist Siarhei Tsikhanouski. Lukashenko also claimed Russia was lying about its attempts to use the Wagner Group to influence its election.

Among other things, this stained the relationship between the two countries that led to Russia in cutting economic subsidies for Belarus.

A day after his arrest, Raman Pratasevich was shown in a confession video.

He said that he is in jail in Minsk, and said that he has no health problems, including those with the heart and with any other organs. He shall continue to cooperate with the investigation and give confessions on the fact of organizing mass riots in the city of Minsk, Protasevich said.

Earlier, Pratasevich's mother, Natalya Pratasevich, said that “people from medical circles” had informed her about the hospitalization of her son at one of the Minsk hospitals due to heart problems.

She was said that her son was in critical condition.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus stated that the data she received was unreliable, adding that the detained journalist is in fact in Minsk Detention Center No. 1 (SIZO No. 1), and no complaints about his health have been received from him.

In the video, Pratasevich had his hands clasped tightly together in front of him, and apparent bruises or scuff marks are seen on his forehead.

If not facing a death penalty, Pratasevich can be convicted for organizing unrest, and can be punishable by up to 15 years in prison; with convictions for incitement that can carry up to 12 years, according to the Belarusian criminal code.