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Roman Protasevich is a vocal critic of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Protasevich s activism against his country s tyranny dates back to 2011, when he was 16 years old.
The dramatic arrest of Belarusian dissident Roman Protasevich drew international interest this week, when Belarusian authorities took the 26-year-old journalist into custody after grounding his Lithuania-bound Ryanair flight.
Protasevich and his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega, were aboard flight FR4978 from Athens to Lithuania before pilots were alerted of a bogus security threat and ordered to land in Minsk. Belarusian state media reported it was Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko who gave an unequivocal order to ground the passenger jet in Minsk.
According to the president s office, the MiG was ordered due to a bomb threat when the flight was over Belarusian airspace. Officials did search the flight after it landed, but found no explosives on board. After seven hours, the commercial jet was allowed to take off and reach Vilnius, with all passengers on board except Protasevich. Why was he arrested? Here s everything we know.
Who is Roman Protasevich?
A well-known activist, jail is nothing new for Protasevich. We found a Russian report that said he was detained on multiple occasions in the past since he began political activism. In 2020, his friend Vladimir Chudentsov was arrested on charges of drug smuggling and sexual assault. He told the Russian publication, I was the first person who learned about his detention. I was the first person who fanned the information wave. I also actively spoke in social networks, I actively informed the public about the progress of this case. Of course, my person could not be ignored by law