Opposition: Lack of response led to Belarusian activist’s arrest

The international community must act in concert against Belarus’ weekend gambit to arrest a dissident journalist by forcing the passenger plane he was in to land in Minsk, Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said.

Now is the time to discuss joint steps to bring the perpetrators to justice, wrote Tikhanovskaya, who lives in exile in Lithuania, on the Telegram messaging app on Tuesday.

She called on U.S. to launch an investigation into the forced landing of the Ryanair flight and journalist Roman Protasevich’s detention, during a phone call with U.S. National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan.

“All of this is a result of the regime’s impunity and the lack of a decisive response from the international community,” she added.

She noted that Protasevich was being toruted.

In videos circulated in Belarus, Protasevich said he wanted to make further confessions about organising mass unrest statements the opposition said were made under duress, pointing to signs of beating.

Belarusian authorities alerted the crew of a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius of a possible security threat on Sunday and directed it to land at an airport near Minsk.

Long-time President Alexander Lukashenko also ordered a MiG-29 fighter jet to be scrambled to accompany the plane, according to the state news agency.

Authorities in Minsk then arrested Protasevich and his girlfriend, who were also on board, sparking international condemnation, sanctions and the sealing-off of Belarusian airspace by the EU.

Air France and Finnair are the latest airlines to announce that they would be avoiding flying over Belarus for the time being.