Explainer: Belarus accused of 'state-sponsored hijacking' of Ryanair flight
A prominent opponent of Belarus' authoritarian president has been arrested after the Ryanair plane in which he was travelling was diverted to the country after a bomb threat. Picture: AP
Ryanair Flight 4978 had already begun its descent into the Lithuanian capital Vilnius when the pilot announced that the plane would be suddenly diverting to Minsk, capital of neighbouring Belarus.
No explanation was offered to the passengers. So what happened?
Belarusian blogger Roman Protasveich is a dissident journalist known for speaking out against the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, often referred to as Europe’s last dictator.
The 26-year-old Protasveich is facing extremism charges in Belarus for his work at Poland-based online news service NEXTA, which broadcast footage of protests against the Belarusian president in Minsk last year.
The protests were held by hundreds of thousands of people opposing the president, calling the election rigged, something Lukashenko persistently denied.
Protasevich published a copy of an official Belurisian list of terrorists on Twitter last November, which included his own name; he was accused of organising mass riots while working at Nexta.
He also stands accused of disrupting social order and of inciting social hatred.
Protasevich regards the allegations as unjustified political repression, but the charges could see him imprisoned for 15 years.
Protasevich now works as an editor-in-chief for political outlet Belamova, a channel on the Telegram messaging app.
His blog, ‘Belarus of the Brain’, has around a quarter of a million subscribers.
Roman fled Belarus for Poland in 2019 due to pressure from the authorities, says Media Solidarity, a group that supports Belarusian journalists.
Data from the Flightradar24.com website showed the plane was diverted just two minutes before it was due to cross into Lithuanian airspace.
Upon hearing the announcement on the Ryanair flight that the Boeing 737 would be diverting to Belarus, less than 200km from the capital of Lithuania, Protasevich reacted immediately. He stood up from his seat, reached into the overhead locker, pulled a laptop from his hand luggage, and passed it to a female companion, along with his phone.
"When it was announced they were going to land in Minsk, Roman stood up, opened the luggage compartment, took luggage, and was trying to split things," said a Lithuanian passenger, who gave his name only as Mantas.
"I think he made a mistake. There were plenty of people so he could give the things to me or other passengers and not the girlfriend, who was also I think arrested."
Mantas spoke to Reuters after a day-long ordeal that began in Athens and finally ended late in the evening in Vilnius, after a stopover of more than seven hours in Minsk.
Another exhausted passenger said Protasevich looked "super scared".
"I looked directly into his eyes and he was very sad," she said.
Lithuania's Delfi news outlet quoted another passenger as saying that Roman told onlookers "I'll get the death penalty here" as he was led away.
In a statement, Ryanair said pilots were notified of “a potential security threat on board” as the plane flew over Belarus, and directed it to divert to Minsk.
Belarusian authorities had diverted the flight as it passed over the country because of a suspected bomb alert, which later turned out to be false.
No bomb was found onboard, according to the country’s law enforcement authorities.
Belarus’s top investigative agency said it had opened a criminal case into a false bomb threat.
Lukashenko personally ordered a MiG-29 fighter jet to escort the Ryanair plane to the Minsk airport after the alleged bomb threat, his press service said.
According to the statement, he gave an “unequivocal order” to “make the plane do a U-turn and land".
Many countries have condemned Belarusian authorities for diverting the plan in order to arrest the opposition journalist.
The EU has called for Roman's immediate release and is due to discuss its response to what one executive called a "hijacking" and the US state department referred to as "a shocking act".
EU leaders will meet at a summit in Brussels later on today while North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) ambassadors are due to meet on Tuesday.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin described comments by the Belarusian government as “nonsense”, telling RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show: “We all know what happened here. Don’t be hiding behind excuses.”
Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney and Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary have both described the incident as a "state-sponsored hijacking".
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen tweeted: "It is utterly unacceptable to force Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius to land in Minsk."
German foreign minister Heiko Maas said "such an act cannot be left without definite consequences from the side of the European Union" and called for Pratasevich to be released.
Currently, dozens of Belarusian officials, including Lukashenko, are already under EU sanctions including travel bans and asset freezes, imposed in response to the repression on opponents.
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