The leader of the Belarusian opposition Svetlana Tikhanovskaya called the detention of one of the creators of the Telegram channel NEXTA Roman Protasevich “Operation of the special services to seize the aircraft”. She wrote about this in Telegram.
Tikhanovskaya claims to appealed to Ryanair and the International Organization of Civil Aviation (ICAO) with the requirement to investigate what happened and then take measures to exclude from ICAO. “From today, no person who makes flights over Belarus cannot be sure of his security,” she stated.
On May 23, the airline Ryanair, who followed the route Athens – Vilnius, made an emergency landing in Minsk after mining reports. On board Roman Protasevich was detained. In Belarus, he threatens the death penalty.
In Belarus, the NEXTA project, which covered the protests after the presidential election in August 2020, was recognized as a foreign extremist organization and prohibited, and its creators of Stepan Putilo and Roman Protasevich were listed in the list of persons involved in terrorist activities. They are accused of organizing mass riots, as well as in the actions aimed at the “initiation of social hostility” in relation to representatives of the authorities and security forces.
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) – UN Establishment establishing international norms of civil aviation and coordinating its development. It consists of all UN members, except for Liechtenstein, as well as Cook Islands.