Georgia condemns detention of opposition journalist Protasevich in Belarus

On May 23, the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a comment in regards to the emergency landing of the Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius and the detention of a 26-year old opposition journalist Roman Protasevich. In a post on its official Twitter page, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the “forcible detention is completely unacceptable”:

“We welcome the safe landing of the Ryanair flight to its original destination - Vilnius, Lithuania and are happy for the people onboard. All the passengers must enjoy the freedom of safe travel. Their forced detention is completely unacceptable,” read the statement.

On Sunday, the Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania with approximately 171 passengers on board was ordered to make an emergency landing in Minsk airport after being notified by Belarus Traffic Control of a potential security threat on board. Shortly after the flight has landed, Roman Protasevich was detained and escorted out of the plane by the law enforcement authorities.

Roman Protasevich hosted Belarus of the Brain Telegram channel and previously worked as the editor-in-chief of NEXTA Telegram channel which covered the large-scale protests against President Lukashenko which erupted after the recent presidential elections in the country. Belarussian authorities added Protasevich to the list of individuals accused of conducting alleged terrorist activists, and the international wanted to list. Protasevich may be facing the death penalty in Belarus for the charges brought up against him.

Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, whose team Protasevich is on, has already issued a statement condemning the detention of the opposition journalist and demanded his immediate release:

“The regime forced the landing Ryanair plane in Minsk to arrest journalist and activist Raman Pratasevich. He faces the death penalty in Belarus. We demand immediate release of Raman, International Civil Aviation Organization investigation, and sanctions against Belarus,” Tikhanovskaya posted on her Twitter.

The international community has also condemned the attack, including the US Ambassador to Belarus Julie Fisher who stated that “Lukashenka and his regime today showed again its contempt for international community and its citizens”, adding that “faking a bomb threat and sending MiG-29s to force RyanAirto Minsk in order to arrest a Nexta journalist on politically motivated charges is dangerous and abhorrent”.

The EU has also expressed concerns over the incident and the President of the European Council Charles Michel has stated that the “unprecedented incident” will be discussed by the EU leaders and it “will not remain without consequences”.