Belarus 'diverts Ryanair flight to arrest journalist', opposition says

A Ryanair jet was on the way to Lithuania when it had been forced to land in Belarus, where authorities arrested Raman Pratasevich, a blogger critical of Lukashenko's government. EU officials slammed the "unprecedented" move.

The ex-editor of the Nexta group, Roman Protasevich, was detained before the plane was allowed to resume its flight.

Belarus media said a MiG-29 escorted the jet to Minsk due to a bomb scare but no explosives were found.

The plane finally landed within the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, its original destination, at 21:25 civil time (18:25 GMT), quite seven hours after its scheduled arrival.

Arriving passengers said that they had been given no information about the rationale for the abrupt diversion to Minsk. One said Mr Protasevich looked "super scared. I looked on to his eyes and it had been very sad".

Another, Monika Simkiene, told AFP news agency: "He just turned to people and said he was facing the execution ."

Belarusian officials said Lukashenko had personally ordered a MIG-29 fighter jet to accompany the passenger plane.

Meanwhile, Pavel Latushka, a member of Belarus opposition Coordination Council, claimed that Belarusian traffic controllers threatened to shoot down the passenger plane if it didn't make an forced landing in Minsk. 

The former Belarus minister culture and diplomat based this claim on "information" that the council had received, but he didn't provide further details.

An airport spokesperson told Belta that although authorities didn't find any explosive devices on the plane. 

An opposition Telegram channel Nexta also reported that the plane was searched. The outlet said former editor Pratasevich had been detained.

"The plane was checked, no bomb was found and every one passengers were sent for an additional security search," said Nexta. "Among them was... Nexta journalist Raman Pratasevich. He was detained."

The Belarusian Interior Ministry confirmed that Pratasevich was arrested at the airport. a minimum of four people didn't reboard the plan, including Pratasevich's girlfriend.

Ryanair: 'Nothing untoward' found

Irish airline Ryanair confirmed the incident and said it had been alerted to a security threat by Belarusian authorities. "Nothing untoward was found," it said.

"Ryanair has notified the relevant national and European safety and security agencies and that we apologize sincerely to all or any affected passengers for this regrettable delay, which was outside Ryanair's control," read a corporation statement.

Western leaders have backed Ms Tikhanovskaya, who claimed victory within the election before she was forced to go away for Lithuania. She had become a candidate after her husband was jailed and barred from running.

Tens of thousands of protesters thronged the capital Minsk for months last year, furious at Mr Lukashenko's declaration of victory. There are numerous cases of police brutality and a few 2,700 prosecutions this year alone.