The chief executive of Ryanair Holdings PLC said the airline believes members of Belarus’ secret service were aboard one of its airliners when the plane was forced by a Belarus jet fighter to divert to the country’s capital Minsk on Sunday, calling the incident “a case of state-sponsored hijacking” and further raising global-aviation industry alarm over the rerouting.
Passengers and crew on a Ryanair flight forced to land in Belarus on Sunday were frightened, and were held under armed guard, Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O’Leary said on Monday.
Belarus scrambled a fighter jet and flagged what turned out to be a false bomb alert to force a Ryanair plane to land in Minsk on Sunday, then detained Roman Protasevich, a dissident journalist who was on board, drawing condemnation from Europe and the United States.
“I think it was very frightening for the crew, for the passengers who were held under armed guard, had their bags searched, when it was clear it appears that the intent … was to remove a journalist and his traveling companion,” O’Leary told Irish Newstalk radio.
“We believe there was also some KGB agents offloaded off the aircraft as well.”
O’Leary described the diversion as “state-sponsored hijacking.”
Protasevich, 26, had his head in his hands and was shaking when he realized the flight was headed for Minsk, Lithuania’s Delfi news outlet said, quoting a passenger. Later, as he was led away, according to the report, he remarked: “I’ll get the death penalty here.”
Reuters could not verify the report.
Protasevich worked for Poland-based online news service NEXTA, which broadcasts footage of mass protests against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko last year via the Telegram messenger app at a time when it was hard for foreign media to do so.
He now works for a different Telegram channel called Belamova, and is wanted in Belarus on extremism charges and stands accused of organizing mass riots and of inciting social hatred, allegations he denies.
Lukashenko is an authoritarian and has ruled for 26 years, though the results of every election held since then have been disputed. Last year saw mass unrest after Lukashenko claimed a landslide victory despite what had appeared to be widespread support for the opposition leader.
Belarusians took to the streets, calling for Lukashenko to resign.
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