Belarus sent a fighter jet on Sunday to intercept an airliner on board which was an opposition activist who, according to the latter, was arrested on his arrival in Minsk by the security services of the regime of Alexander Lukashenko. The flight, coming from Athens, was to land in Vilnius. The EU called on Minsk to let the plane leave with "all the passengers".

Belarus sent a fighter jet on Sunday to intercept an airliner on board which was an opposition activist who, according to the latter, was arrested on his arrival in Minsk by the security services of the regime of Alexander Lukashenko.

Opposition media Nexta claimed that its former editor-in-chief Roman Protassevich was arrested after the aircraft, a Ryanair Boeing 737, arriving from Belarus made an emergency landing at the airport in Belarus' capital. Athens and with destination Vilnius in Lithuania.

A bomb threat that turned out to be "wrong"

The Belarusian Interior Ministry initially confirmed this arrest on Telegram, before deleting this message, noted an AFP journalist. According to the authorities, the plane deviated from its trajectory because of a "bomb threat". Nexta said the emergency landing was sparked by a "fight" started by Belarusian security agents on board who claimed that an explosive device was in the aircraft.

Minsk airport, quoted by the official Belta news agency, claimed that the bomb threat was "wrong" after a search of the Boeing.

President Alexander Lukashenko personally ordered a MiG-29 fighter jet to intercept the plane after the alert, his press service said. 

>> READ ALSO

- In Belarus, popular protest is reinventing itself in neighborhoods

Mass arrests and police violence during the revolt against power

 Last summer and autumn, Mr. Lukashenko was confronted with a historic protest movement that brought together tens of thousands of people for several weeks in Minsk and other cities, a huge mobilization for a country of barely 9.5 million inhabitants.

But the protest gradually faltered in the face of mass arrests, police violence that left at least four people dead, ongoing judicial harassment and heavy prison sentences imposed on activists and journalists.

>> READ ALSO - The impotence of the European Union in Belarus

An activist placed on the list of "individuals involved in terrorist activities"

Last November, the Belarusian security services (KGB), inherited from the Soviet period, placed Mr. Protassevich and the founder of Nexta, Stepan Poutilo, on the list of "individuals involved in terrorist activities". Current Nexta editor-in-chief Tadeusz Giczan said Belarusian KGB agents were on board the aircraft. "When the plane entered Belarusian airspace, KGB officers started a fight with Ryanair staff," Giczan said, officers claiming a bomb was on board. Contacted by AFP, a spokeswoman for Lithuanian airports said that she had received as a first explanation from the Minsk airport a conflict between passengers and the crew.

Roman Protassevich is the former editor-in-chief of Nexta, a media outlet that played a key role in the recent wave of protests against the 2020 re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko, who has held the post since 1994. Founded in 2015, Nexta ("Someone 'un "in Belarusian) had notably coordinated rallies across Belarus, broadcasting slogans and sharing photos and videos of rallies and violence.

The activist's arrest was immediately condemned by Belarusian opposition figure in exile, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.

On Twitter, she assured that the regime had "forced" the plane of Roman Protassevich who, according to her, "incurs the death penalty".

The former Soviet republic of Belarus is the last country in Europe to apply the death penalty.

European Union reaction

The European Union reacted on Sunday afternoon, calling on Minsk to let the rerouted plane leave with "all the passengers".

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called the arrest of Roman Protassevich an "act of state terrorism".

Germany asked for "immediate explanation".