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Brussels: The European Union has agreed to impose sanctions against Belarus, including banning Belarusian airlines from using the airspace and airports of the 27-nation bloc, amid fury over the forced diversion of a passenger jet to arrest an opposition journalist.
EU leaders have called the “hijacking” of the Ryanair jetliner flying from Greece to Lithuania on Sunday as brazen, they also demanded the immediate release of the journalist, Raman Pratasevich, a key foe of authoritarian Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Credit:EPA
A brief video clip of Pratasevich, who ran a popular messaging app that played a key role in helping organise massive protests against Lukashenko, was shown on Belarusian state television on Monday night, a day after he was removed from the Ryanair flight. (Raman is the Belarusian spelling of Pratasevich’s first name.)
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The European Union agreed Monday to impose sanctions on Belarus, including banning its airlines from using the airspace and airports of the 27-nation bloc, amid fury over the forced diversion of a passenger jet to arrest an opposition journalist.
The European Union agreed Monday to impose sanctions on Belarus, including banning its airlines from using the airspace and airports of the 27-nation bloc, amid fury over the forced diversion of a passenger jet to arrest an opposition journalist.
Reacting to what EU leaders called a brazen âhijackingâ of the Ryanair jetliner flying from Greece to Lithuania on Sunday, they also demanded the immediate release of the journalist, Raman Pratasevich, a key foe of authoritarian Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
I’m begging the whole world to save him : Mother of Belarus journalist Roman Protasevich makes emotional plea for help getting him released from Minsk jail where he is being held after being seized in Ryanair hijacking
Roman Protasevich, 26, has appeared on state TV - the first time he has been seen since his arrest on Sunday
Dissident journalist said he is cooperating with police, is being treated within the law and has confessed
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His mother Natalia has begged the international community to save her son over fears he will be killed