Global News published this video item, entitled “Lithuania calls for detained activist’s release after Belarus president diverts plane to Minsk” – below is their description.
On Sunday, Lithuania called on Belarus to release an opposition blogger who was detained after his flight from Athens to Vilnius was forced to land in Minsk.
Law enforcement detained activist Roman Protasevich, who had been put on a wanted list after last year’s mass street protests in Belarus following an election in which President Alexander Lukashenko claimed a landslide victory.
Senior Belarusian military official Andrei Gurtsevich said the Ryanair flight was diverted in Belarusian airspace to Minsk airport due to a possible bomb threat. Gurtsevich also said the plane was escorted by a MiG-29 fighter jet to ensure the security of the landing.
Lukashenko personally ordered the warplane to escort the flight to Minsk, state news agency BelTA reported.
Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya also called on the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to investigate Belarus.
“From now on, any citizen of any country who flies over Belarus is not guaranteed even basic security,” she told reporters in Vilnius, calling for Belarus’s removal from the ICAO.
The incident is certain to worsen already dire relations between the West and Belarus, which has been tightly controlled since 1994 by Lukashenko.
For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca/news/7887434/belarus-ryanair-flight-land/
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