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Agence France-Presse

A defiant President Alexander Lukashenko on Wednesday defended Belarus’s diversion of a European flight and arrest of a dissident on board, lashing out at critics at home and abroad.
In his first public statement since the Ryanair flight was diverted and opposition journalist Roman Protasevich arrested on Sunday, Lukashenko dismissed the international outcry the incident provoked.
“I acted lawfully to protect our people,” Lukashenko said in an address to parliament, the Belta state-run news agency reported.
The criticism was nothing more than another attempt by his opponents to undermine his rule, he said.
“Our ill-wishers at home and abroad have changed their methods of attacking the state,” Lukashenko said.
“They have crossed many red lines and crossed boundaries of common sense and human morality.”
Belarus opposition leader says journalist taken off flight was ‘tortured’
Lukashenko – often dubbed “Europe’s last dictator” – is facing some of the strongest international pressure of his 26-year rule of ex-Soviet Belarus.
The strongman and his allies are already under a series of Western sanctions over a brutal crackdown on mass protests that followed his disputed re-election to a sixth term last August.
European leaders are now accusing authorities in Minsk of essentially hijacking the passenger flight, and they agreed this week to cut air links with Belarus and told airliners to avoid the country’s airspace.
The Belarusian opposition has called for further and stronger measures, and the UN Security Council was set to meet behind closed doors later on Wednesday.
The Athens-to-Vilnius flight was diverted over a supposed bomb scare, with Lukashenko scrambling a MiG-29 fighter jet to accompany the aircraft.


Belarus has released a transcript of communications between Minsk air traffic control and the Ryanair flight, in which the crew was told “you have a bomb on board” and urged to land in Minsk.
Lukashenko on Wednesday denied that the fighter jet had forced the airliner to land, calling such claims an “absolute lie”.
Protasevich – the 26-year-old co-founder of opposition Telegram channel Nexta – and his Russian girlfriend Sofia Sapega were arrested after the plane landed.
Protasevich, who had been living between Poland and Lithuania, appeared in a video on Monday in which he confessed to helping to organise mass unrest, a charge that could land him in jail for 15 years.
Sapega, a 23-year-old law student at the European Humanities University (EHU) in Lithuania, appeared in another video on Tuesday, saying she worked for a Telegram channel that disclosed information about Belarusian police.

Her lawyer said she had been ordered held for two months of pre-trial detention and Russia confirmed she was being detained as a criminal suspect.
Belarus’s opposition says such videos are routinely recorded by security forces, with participants forced to make statements under duress.
Protasevich’s mother said in Poland that she had not slept since he was arrested.
“I’m asking, I’m begging, I’m calling on the whole international community to save him,” Natalia Protasevich said, weeping.
“They’re going to kill him in there.”
EU leaders on Monday warned they would adopt further “targeted economic sanctions” against the Belarusian authorities to add to the 88 regime figures and seven companies on a blacklist.
Singapore Airlines, Air France suspend flights over Belarus after dissident detained
Last year’s protests lasted for months, with tens of thousands taking to the streets to denounce Lukashenko, but were brutally quashed and thousands were detained – many of whom reported torture and abuse in custody.
Many protest leaders – including now-exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who claimed victory in the August vote – fled the country, and the demonstrations have dwindled.
Tikhanovskaya this week urged Europe and Washington to take stronger action against Lukashenko’s regime, but he continues to enjoy solid support from Russia.
Speaking to the European Parliament via video link on Wednesday, Tikhanovskaya called for a series of concrete measures, including a ban on new foreign investments and on Belarus’s main exports like oil and metal products, potash fertilisers and wood.
Diplomatic sources said the UN Security Council would hold an informal meeting on Belarus on Wednesday but was unlikely to agree on a collective statement because of Russia’s support for Minsk.


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Belarus

Lukashenko defends Ryanair plane diversion, says attacks on Belarus crossed ‘red lines’

Protesters demand freedom for Roman Protasevich in front of the Belarus embassy in Warsaw. Photo: AP

FILE PHOTO: Student Sofia Sapega poses for a picture in Gothenburg, Sweden, in this undated photo taken in 2019. She and Belarusian dissident journalist Roman Protasevich were arrested in Belarus on May 23, 2021 after a forced landing of Ryanair Flight 4978 flying from Athens to Vilnius. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo/File Photo

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. Photo: dpa

Belarus opposition leader says arrested journalist Roman Protasevich was ‘tortured’

People protest against the detention of Roman Protasevich in Warsaw, Poland. Photo: Agencja Gazeta via Reuters

Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya speaks during her news conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, Sunday, May 23, 2021. Exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya called on the International Civil Aviation Organization to begin an investigation. "It is absolutely obvious that this is an operation by the special services to hijack an aircraft in order to detain activist and blogger Raman Pratasevich," she said in a statement. "Not a single person who flies over Belarus can be sure of his safety." (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)

Roman Protasevich confessed to having organised anti-government demonstrations in Belarus. Photo: AFP

Belarusian exiles fear they could be targeted next after Roman Protasevich detained

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya on the campaign trail last year. Photo: AP

FILE - In this Aug. 23, 2020, file image made from video provided by the State TV and Radio Company of Belarus, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko greets riot police officers near the Palace of Independence in Minsk, Belarus, amid street protests. The diversion of a Ryanair flight to Lithuania by Belarus, leading to the arrest of Raman Pratasevich, an opposition journalist who was a passenger, has sparked international outrage and calls for tough sanctions against the former Soviet nation. Pratasevich ran a popular messaging app that helped organize demonstrations. (State TV and Radio Company of Belarus via AP, File)

FILE - In this Sunday, March 26, 2017 file photo, Belarus police detain journalist Raman Pratasevich, center, in Minsk, Belarus. Raman Pratasevich, a founder of a messaging app channel that has been a key information conduit for opponents of Belarus’ authoritarian president, has been arrested after an airliner in which he was riding was diverted to Belarus because of a bomb threat. The presidential press service said President Alexander Lukashenko personally ordered that a MiG-29 fighter jet accompany the Ryanair plane — traveling from Athens, Greece, to Vilnius, Lithuania — to the Minsk airport. ﻿﻿(AP Photo/Sergei Grits, File)

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko gives a speech at Victory Square in Minsk, Belarus, Sunday, May 9, 2021, during a ceremony marking the 76th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. (Maxim Guchek/BelTA Pool Photo via AP)

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The president dismissed the international outcry the incident provoked, saying ‘I acted lawfully to protect our people’
Dissident Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega were arrested after the flight was forced to land in Minsk



The president dismissed the international outcry the incident provoked, saying ‘I acted lawfully to protect our people.’


Human rights