Belarus grounds Ryanair flight, detains independent journalist amid regime s crackdown on media globalvoices.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from globalvoices.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Belarusian authorities diverted a fighter jet bound for Lithuania in order to arrest an oppositional journalist on board, according to multiple reports.
Roman Protasevich, who has lived in exile in Poland since 2019, was detained shortly after Ryanair flight FR4978 from Athens to Vilnius was diverted to Minsk shortly before leaving Belarusian airspace.
Protasevich, a former editor of the highly influential Telegram channel Nexta, is wanted in Belarus for his role in organising last year’s protests against the country’s dictator, Alexander Lukashenko. Nexta was one of the key channels used by opposition protesters to mobilise support against Lukashenko.
In November, Belarus placed Protasevich on a terrorist watchlist and charged him with three protest-related crimes, which carry a maximum sentence of up to 15 years in prison.
Belarus diverts plane bound for Lithuania to force arrest of oppositional journalist washingtonexaminer.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from washingtonexaminer.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Belarus shuts down largest independent news portal, arrests staff
May 19, 2021
Authorities in Belarus this week intensified their repression of independent media, shutting down the country’s largest news portal, TUT.by.
The largest and most influential independent news portal in Belarus, TUT.by, has been shut down by the country’s authorities in their latest crackdown on journalists in the country.
TUT.by said law enforcement officials had visited its offices around the country on May 18, seizing computers, telephones and bank cards.
According to Kirill Voloshin, one of the online portal’s founders, several TUT.by journalists and administrative staff were arrested in the raids, including editor-in-chief Marina Zolotova and accountant Angela Assad. Arrests were also made at the firm that hosted TUT.by’s website.