Raman Pratasevich, blogger and co-founder of an app that has proven to be an important source of information for opponents of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, was arrested on Sunday after his flight was diverted to Belarus citing a bomb threat.
File photo of the Belarusian police arresting journalist Raman Pratasevich (Photo credit: AP)
HIGHLIGHTS
- The Belarusian Interior Ministry said Raman Pratasevich was arrested at the airport
- Bombing began while the plane was over Belarusian territory, officials claimed
- Exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya called on the International Civil Aviation Organization to investigate the matter
A founder of a messaging app channel, which was an important source of information for opponents of the authoritarian president of Belarus, was arrested on Sunday after an airliner he was traveling in was diverted to Belarus because of a bomb threat.
The President’s press service said President Alexander Lukashenko personally ordered that a MiG-29 fighter plane escort the Ryanair plane – from Athens (Greece) to Vilnius (Lithuania) – to Minsk airport.
The Belarusian Interior Ministry said Raman Pratasevich was arrested at the airport. Pratasevich is co-founder of the Nexta channel of the Telegram messaging app, which Belarus declared as extremist last year after being used to organize major protests against Lukashenko.
Pratasevich, who fled the country to Poland, is charged with imprisonment for up to 15 years.
The president’s press service said the bomb threat had passed while the plane was over Belarusian territory. Officials later said no explosives were found on board. There was no immediate comment from Ryanair.
Exile opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya called on the International Civil Aviation Organization to open an investigation.
“It is absolutely evident that this is a special services operation to hijack a plane to arrest activist and blogger Raman Pratasevich,” she said in a statement. “Not a single person flying over Belarus can be sure of their safety.”
Protests lasted for months after the presidential elections in August last year. According to official results, Lukashenko had a sixth term.
The police cracked down on the protests, arresting around 30,000 people and beating many of them.
Although the protests subsided in the winter, Belarus continued to take action against the opposition and independent news media. Last week, 11 employees of the news website TUT.by were arrested by police.
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