Exiled opposition determine arrested after flight diverted to Belarus citing bomb menace

Raman Pratasevich, a blogger and co-founder of an app that has confirmed to be a key data conduit for opponents of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, was arrested on Sunday after his flight was diverted to Belarus citing a bomb menace. File picture of Belarus police detaining journalist Raman Pratasevich (Photo Credits: AP)HIGHLIGHTSBelarusian Interior Ministry mentioned Raman Pratasevich was arrested on the airportBomb menace was obtained whereas the airplane was over Belarusian territory, claimed officersExiled opposition chief Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya known as on International Civil Aviation Organization to probe the matterA founding father of a messaging app channel that has been a key data conduit for opponents of Belarus’ authoritarian president was arrested Sunday after an airliner through which he was touring on was diverted to Belarus due to a bomb menace.The presidential press service mentioned President Alexander Lukashenko personally ordered {that a} MiG-29 fighter jet accompany the Ryanair airplane – touring from Athens, Greece, to Vilnius, Lithuania – to the Minsk airport.The Belarusian Interior Ministry mentioned Raman Pratasevich was arrested on the airport. Pratasevich is a co-founder of the Telegram messaging app’s Nexta channel, which Belarus final yr declared as extremist after it was used to assist arrange main protests in opposition to Lukashenko.Pratasevich, who had fled the nation for Poland, faces prices that would carry a jail sentence of as much as 15 years.The presidential press service mentioned the bomb menace was obtained whereas the airplane was over Belarusian territory; officers later mentioned no explosives had been discovered on board. There was no rapid remark from Ryanair.Exiled opposition chief Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya known as on the International Civil Aviation Organization to start an investigation.”It is absolutely obvious that this is an operation by the special services to hijack an aircraft in order to detain activist and blogger Raman Pratasevich,” she mentioned in an announcement. “Not a single person who flies over Belarus can be sure of his safety.”Months of protests arose after final August’s presidential election that official outcomes say gave Lukashenko a sixth time period in workplace.Police cracked down on the protests harshly, detaining some 30,000 individuals and beating a lot of them.Although protests died down in the course of the winter, Belarus has continued to take actions in opposition to the opposition and unbiased information media. Last week, 11 workers members of the TUT.by information web site had been detained by police.Click right here for IndiaToday.in’s full protection of the coronavirus pandemic.