Tue, May 25, 2021 page1

• Belarus accused of hijacking plane to arrest journalist

  • AP, BRUSSELS
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  Western outrage grew and the EU threatened more sanctions yesterday over the forced diversion of a plane to Belarus to arrest an opposition journalist.

  The dramatic gambit apparently ordered by the nation’s authoritarian president was denounced as piracy, a hijacking and terrorism.

  Ryanair said Belarusian flight controllers told the crew there was a bomb threat against the plane as it was crossing the nation’s airspace and ordered it to land in the capital, Minsk.

  

  Journalist Roman Protasevich, who was accused of participating in an unsanctioned protest at the Kuropaty Preserve, arrives for a court hearing in Minsk, Belarus, on April 10, 2017.

  Photo: Reuters

  A Belarusian MiG-29 fighter jet was scrambled to escort the plane — in a brazen show of force by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled for more than a quarter of a century.

  The goal was seemingly the arrest of Roman Protasevich, a journalist who ran a popular messaging app that played a key role in helping organize massive protests against the authoritarian leader.

  He and his Russian girlfriend were led off the plane shortly after it landed.

  The plane, which began its journey in Athens, was eventually allowed to continue on to Vilnius, Lithuania.

  US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the diversion “shocking,” but EU leaders were particularly forceful in their condemnation of the move against the plane, which was flying between two of its member nations and was being operated by an airline based in Ireland, also a member.

  Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin told broadcaster RTE the diversion “certainly was a state-sponsored coercive act.”

  “It reflects growing authoritarianism across the world,” Martin said. “These authoritarian figures taking premeditated decisions of this kind. We have to respond very strong to it.”

  EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said it was “yet another blatant attempt by the Belarusian authorities to silence all opposition voices.”

  EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen earlier said that it amounted to a “hijacking,” while Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda called it a “state-sponsored terror act.”

  Yesterday, hours ahead of a previously planned summit, some EU leaders were threatening more sanctions — from scrapping landing rights in the EU for the Belarusian national airline to exclusions from sports events.

  The US and EU had already imposed sanctions on top Belarusian officials amid months of protests, which were triggered by Lukashenko’s re-election to a sixth presidential term in an August last year vote that the opposition rejected as rigged.

  The Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday bristled at what it described as “belligerent” EU statements, saying that the authorities acted “in full conformity with international rules.”

  There have been conflicting reports of what exactly happened.

  Belarusian Air Force Deputy Commander Andrei Gurtsevich told state TV that the plane’s crew made the decision to land in Minsk, adding that the fighter jet was sent to “provide help to the civilian aircraft to ensure a safe landing,” but Ryanair said that Belarusian air traffic control instructed the plane to divert to the capital.

  The plane was searched and no bomb was found.
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