A Belarusian journalist was arrested after his flight from Athens was diverted. Reports conflict with the reason for the diversion.
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Belarusian Journalist Opposed Government
Telegram channel, Nexta, is an independent new media outlet that had disputed election results in the closely controlled country of Belarus. Most of the news in the country is performed by state media, Nexta was a rare independent news agency. Despite official “press freedom”, Alexander Lukashenko had tightened controls around media outlets in August 2020 forcing Nexta to pursue the encrypted messaging platform, Telegram, as its outlet.
Roman Protasevich was a journalist for Nexta (he’s been referred to as a collaborator) reporting stories for the Independent media agency.
Flight Diverted
En route from Athens to Vilnius, a RyanAir flight carrying Protasevich was accompanied by a Mig29 fighter jet and safely landed in Minsk. Reports initially indicated that there was a bomb threat on the aircraft diverting it from its destination. However, since the initial report surfaced, there are other claims that it was simply at the order of Belarusian authorities.
Once the Boeing 737 carrying the Reporters without Borders writer was on the ground, officials boarded the plane and arrested the journalist.
No bomb was found on board.
A Ryanair flight #FR4978 from Athens to Vilnius, diverted to Minsk in Belarus earlier today.https://t.co/rnUpiqOjch
According to reports in media a Belarus journalist, that was onboard the flight, was arrested after the diversion to Minsk. pic.twitter.com/MQyvXsDExM
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) May 23, 2021
Concerning
This is particularly concerning and warrants an investigation by the International Civil Aviation Organization. If Belarusian authorities called in a false claim for a bomb on board the aircraft, that’s most certainly an international crime. If there was no bomb threat (some media outlets reported it was an IED which is typically a roadside, proximity explosive similar to a landmine which are not typically used to destroy aircraft) then it would be an egregious violation of international law.
The journalist should never have been arrested. If he was breaking a crime in Belarus, authorities in Greece or Vilnius should have extradited him at the airport. But he was unlikely to have violated the Central Asia country’s law, but rather upset politicians. The act itself amounts to hijacking.
Now that he is back in Belarus it’s only a matter of time before he is herded through a quick trial before he is undoubtedly sentenced to many years in prison or death.
“The EU declared that the imprisonment of opposition figures and protesters contravened human rights laws, and imposed new targeted sanctions on major Belarusian officials and businesspeople.” and “Belarus is participating in the EU’s Eastern Partnership. In October 2015, EU announced it would suspend most of its sanctions against Belarus.[7]Belarus borders three EU member states: Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.” – Wikipedia
Europe has a responsibility to ensure that EEC and “Eastern Partnership” nations abide by the principles of the European Union. This cannot stand.
Conclusion
Imagine the terror of being on that RyanAir flight which faced an immediate departure from its travel plans and altitude only to look out the window and find a Russian Mig fighter jet on the wing the whole way down to a destination you don’t know. Then imagine the terror of seeing armed men board the plane (likely forgoing the formality of a luggage inspection) to arrest a fellow passenger. This sort of action should not go unchecked by international authorities, the UN, EU, and world governments should penalize Belarus until the journalist’s release is assured. Even then, without protection and asylum, it would be hard to imagine he will ever spend a night sleeping without one eye open.
What do you think? Was the bomb threat a ploy? What will the global response be?
As we’ve been warned countless times over the past year, questioning the validity or outcome of an election is a serious offense that threatens a country’s unity and stability. Anyone who seeks to undermine trust in a country’s institutions in such a dishonest way should expect to be held accountable.
“he was unlikely to have violated the Central Asia country’s law” – Belarus is not in central Asia, though looking at its leadership the mistake is understandable.
This is what happens when you question the media and government even if they are corrupt. Freedom of speech and the press isn’t something that exists in every country.
Yet.. The Beksrus government hijacked an aircraft behaving no more than a terrorist organization.
Maximum sanctions should be imposed for such a terrorist behavior..
I personally don’t mind the occasional political post on a travel blog (sign of the times perhaps), but the author really should research the topic more before putting such an article up. As a member of the media, there is a higher duty of care imposed on accuracy.
Low-hanging fruit: Belarus is not a Central Asian country no matter how broadly ones applies the term. It’s proper to still say “President Alexander…” even if you don’t think the election was legitimate (as every other major news organization does).
I don’t support this move at all, but Kyle’s argumentation is reckless and haphazard. Why exactly does Europe have a responsibility to make sure a non-EU state follows EU principles? Why does forcing down a plane (clearly for political reasons) constitute a hijacking in this case but not when Morales’ plane was forced down by the US? Why are you so concerned with the “terror” of the passengers during a diversion (no indication they were threatened) but see no issue with the US gov’t seizing assets under the thinnest of pretexts?
Again, this move was wrong, but please stop blowing it out of proportion. It was political power move plain and simple and everyone else went along their merry way.
It’s clear, to me at least, Kyle is new to the situation in Belarus and doesn’t appreciate the nuances and complexity at play. The region is on par with Israel-Palestine in difficulty to properly understand and assess. I could and would forgive laypeople posting their opinions, but a public media outlet should do better. Sure you can argue this is a private blog (fair enough), but then make it clear this is the “Opinion” section and not the “News” section.
This is terrible all around. I don’t want to diminish any of that. I do have one question…
Why would an Intra-EU flight operate in airspace that doesn’t fall under the realm of Eurocontrol? I understand hindsight is 20/20, but it surprises me a little to see that overflying BY was SOP.
@Jonathan, Morales’s plane is a very different story. European countries refused him entry into their airspace, but didn’t force him to land and arrest him.
The complexity of the Belarus situation is irrelevant. Even if Protasevich is guilty of whatever he’s accused of, this is still highly illegal.
@ Jonathan
The situation in Belarus is not as complicated as Israel/Palestine. It’s as simple as an autocratic leader stole an election forcing members of the opposition to flee and he still won’t step down.
Also, feel free to disagree, but I think when a non-EU state uses the threat of military force to force a civilian airliner flying from one EU member state to another for an airline based in a third EU member state, the EU might have some legitimate reasons to get involved. Not to mention that it was a flagrant violation of international law. You can’t just threaten a plane with a fighter jet if you want to extradite someone accused of a crime in your country to try them. Belarus was free to go through the proper diplomatic channels and negotiate extradition based on established treaties with Lithuania, Greece, or even Ireland, and if they refuse, too bad for Belarus.
@Uri
Closing airspace along the only flight path once a plane is airborne (as Morales was) is constructively the same as forcing it to land (they also used flimsy “technical reasons” as the excuse for what it’s worth). So Snowden wouldn’t have been arrested had he been aboard in your opinion? I think he would have but reasonable minds might differ.
@chasgoose
Haha-the fact that you think you can explain 30 years-plus of history in one simple sentence makes it hard to engage you as a serious debate partner. Please don’t misunderstand, I am by no means a Lukashenko supporter (and of course think his regime is corrupt and should go), but I find this virtue performative outrage hypocritical and unhelpful.
To be clear, this is a game of politics. The EU is free to respond to this power move as it sees fit (and there’s certainly enough of a nexus as you point out to sell it to the public). But appeals to international law are tools of the weak and meaningless in this context. When a regime is fighting to survive it knows it wont get dissidents extradited so why bother trying? Should it just give up as you suggest (“too bad for Belarus”)?
If this were an overnight bus ride there would be almost no story. For some reason aircraft are considered more dramatic and people react differently to events that affect them (e.g. hijacking, diversions, etc.)
You’re right of course that this is a violation of several international laws and such, but so is a lot of stuff. Why all the special hype here?
The response from Ryanair is classic. Gary at View just posted and it’s actually incredible this is the best they can do.
https://twitter.com/RyanairPress/status/1396543331878981632
@chasgoose
Yes, comparing the the situation in Belarus to Israel/Palestine has to be one of the most asinine cases of gaslighting.
“If this were an overnight bus ride there would be almost no story.”
Probably because they wouldn’t have sent a military jet to force the bus to divert, the way they did with a plane and possibly endangering so many other people’s lives.
Bastards…and as for Ryanair…utterly contemptible…
The airplane was just about at the border. The pilot should have said, “We understand you think there is a problem. We are much closer to Vilnius than Minsk. We are continuing to Vilnius and will land there. Thank you.” In short order it would be out of Belarus airspace.