BRUSSELS: The European Union (EU) has agreed on a set of sanctions against Belarus, including a ban on the use of the 27-nation bloc’s airspace and airports, after a flight was diverted to Minsk on Sunday and to arrest an opposition journalist.
At a meeting in Brussels, the leaders of the 27 member states also told EU airlines not to fly over Belarus, and promised further economic sanctions. In what EU leaders have called a brazen “hijacking” of Irish carrier Ryanair’s plane flying from Greece to Lithuania, they demanded the immediate release of Roman Protasevich, a key critic of authoritarian Belarusian President.
Roman Protasevich was on a flight from Greece to Lithuania which was rerouted over a supposed bomb threat. Western countries accused Belarus of “hijacking” the Ryanair plane.
The EU leaders also decided to slap individual sanction of officials linked to the operation, and called on the International Civil Aviation Organization to start an investigation into what they see as an unprecedented move.
Meanwhile, Untied States President Joe Biden also condemned Belarus for its actions, saying that he had asked his advisers to give him options to hold those responsible to account.
Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security, spoke with exiled Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, and said the United States had “strong support for the demands of the Belarusian people for democracy, human rights, and fundamental freedoms,” the White House said.
In a video released earlier on Monday, the dissident journalist Roman Protasevich said he is cooperating with authorities and “confessing” to charges of organising protests. “I am in Detention Centre no 1 in Minsk. I can say that I have no health problems, including with my heart or any other organs,” he said in the video.
“The attitude of employees towards me is as correct as possible and according to the law. I continue cooperating with investigators and am confessing to having organised mass unrest in the city of Minsk,” he added.
Later, Protasevich’s father, while talking to an international news channel, said he fears his son may be tortured. Dmitri Protasevich said he was “really afraid” of how his son would be treated by the authorities in his home country.
The Belarusian interior ministry earlier confirmed the arrest of Protasevich, saying he was taken into pretrial detention. Minsk also rejected rumours on social media that Protasevich had been hospitalised and said authorities had no information concerning any health problems.
