CURIOUS

Belarus Government Diverts Ryanair Flight from Greece to Arrest Journalist Roman Protasevich

A Ryanair flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Minsk so authorities could arrest an outspoken activist who was on the flight.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko reportedly personally ordered authorities to force a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius, Lithuania to land in Minsk on Sunday so they could arrest an outspoken activist. Roman Pratasevich, a journalist who regularly criticized President Alexander Lukashenko and founded the popular Telegram channel Nexta, was detained at the airport. Early reports suggested that a bomb threat had been detected on Ryanair Flight FR4978 and that the plane would be making an emergency landing. Several first responders were waiting a the airport. Other reports then suggested that there was an altercation between two passengers and that the Lithuanian civil aviation officials knew nothing of the bomb threat. Ryanair has not commented on why they landed in Minsk.