A Belarusian dog handler checks luggages off a Ryanair Boeing 737-8AS parked on Minsk Airport
New Delhi:
Belarus secret police are believed to have been present when a dissident journalist was detained when his plane was diverted to Minsk, the head of the Irish airline said on Monday.
Roman Protasevich was held on Sunday after a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius was intercepted by a Belarusian fighter jet and diverted to the capital of Minsk, state TV reported. It appears the intent of the authorities was to remove a journalist and his travelling companion, Ryanair chief executive Michael O Leary told Ireland s Newstalk radio.
European leaders threatened to limit international air traffic over Belarus and possibly target its ground transport as well, after a Ryanair plane was forced to land in an incident denounced by Western countries as "state piracy".
Belarus accused of ‘warlike act’ after ‘hijacking’ Ryanair jet with fake bomb alert to arrest exiled editor
Updated: 24 May 2021, 12:39
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BELARUS has been accused of executing a warlike act after allegedly hijacking a Ryanair flight with a fake bomb alert to arrest an exiled political editor.
Western officials have condemned the country for enacting state terrorism after a MiG-29 fighter intercepted the civilian jet and forced it to land in the capital Minsk.
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A MIG-29 jet escorted the Ryanair flight to MinskCredit: AviaticA
The head of the British Foreign Affairs Committee Tom Tugendhat said: If it s not an act of war, it s certainly a warlike act.
Belarus’s forced diversion of a plane to arrest dissident journalist Roman Protasevich has prompted outrage. FRANCE 24 looks at precisely how it broke international law and what – if anything – can b…