NATO demanded international investigation into hijacking of plane to Belarus

NATO on Sunday called for an international investigation into the hijacking of a passenger plane to Belarus and the arrest of an opposition activist, an incident he described as “serious and dangerous ”.

“This is a serious and dangerous incident which requires an international investigation», Assured the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, make sure they are “monitoring” the situation.

Belarusian fighter intercepted company airliner on Sunday Ryanair from Athens to Vilna on which he was traveling Roman Protasevich, former editor of the opposition media Nexta.

After the episode, the leaders of the institutions of the European Union (EU) also unanimously urged Minsk to allow “All passengers” can continue their journey after that “Completely unacceptable action.”

Several countries of the bloc such as Germany, France Yes Lithuania denounced the events, that the Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, qualified as << State terrorismAnd for those who called for “immediate sanctions”.

the UK, from the mouth of his chancellor Dominic raab, he also warned the Belarusian President, Alexander Lukashenko, which is exposed to “serious consequences”.

The Belarusian Interior Ministry initially confirmed Protasevich’s arrest on Telegram, before deleting the message, an AFP journalist confirmed.

According to the authorities, the plane was hijacked by a “bomb threat”.

Nexta said the emergency landing was caused by a “fight” caused by Belarusian security officers on board. and that they said there was an explosive device in the device.

Minsk Airport, quoted by the official news agency Belta, I affirm that the bomb threat was found to be “wrong” after a search by Boeing.

the The Belarusian President personally ordered a MiG-29 fighter jet to intercept the plane after the threat, according to their press service.

Around 5.15 p.m. GMT, the European Commissioner for Transport, Adina valean, assured that the plane had just left for Vilna, but without specifying if Protasevich was traveling on board.

“Fight with the KGB”

Lukashenko faced in 2020 a historic protest movement that gathered for several weeks to tens of thousands of people in Minsk and other cities in this country of about 9.5 million people.

But the mobilization was running out of steam before the mass arrests, police violence that left at least four dead, the continuous judicial harassment and heavy prison sentences for activists and journalists.

In November, Belarusian security services (KGB), heirs to the Soviet period, included Protasevich, 26 years old, and the founder of Nexta, Stepan Putilo, in a list of “Individuals involved in terrorist activities”.

The current editor of Nexta, Tadeusz Giczan, claimed that Belarusian KGB agents were on board the plane.

“When the plane entered Belarusian airspace, KGB agents started a fight with Ryanair staff“Assuring that there was a bomb on board, according to Giczan.

A spokeswoman for Lithuanian airports told AFP that received as the first explanation by the airport of Minsk a conflict between the passengers and the crew.

According to the images on the specialized site flightradar24, the Boeing was intercepted just before the border with Lithuania, EU countries.

“Death sentence”

The way Nexta, founded in 2015, played a key role in the recent wave of protests against Lukashenko’s re-election in 2020, in power since 1994, disseminating slogans and sharing photos and videos of demonstrations and repression.

The Belarusian opposition woman in exile in Lithuania, Svetlana Tijanóvskaya, immediately condemned Protasevich’s arrest and assured that the activist risked the “death penalty”.

This former Soviet republic is the only country in Europe that applies the death penalty.

The repression of the Belarusian authorities has earned Minsk a battery of Western sanctions which have led Lukashenko to approach his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

(With information from AFP)

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