On Sunday, a Ryanair plane en route from Athens to Vilnius in Lithuania was forced to make an emergency landing in the capital Minsk in Belarus.
Belarusian authorities have previously published a rendering what they believe is the conversation between the Ryanair pilot and Minsk before the plane had to land. Here it appears that the pilot was informed that there was a bomb on the plane.
The incident has been described as a hijacking.
«Mama»
Among the 133 passengers on the plane were the Belarusian activist Roman Protasevich (26) and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega (23). The two were arrested before the plane was allowed to take off.
In an interview with BBC tells Sapega’s mother, Anna Dudich, about the last message she received from her daughter before she was arrested.
Sapega’s girlfriend, Roman Protasevich, has long been wanted in Belarus. Photo: – / AFP
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“Mama” was all that was in the text message. After this, it has been impossible for Dudich to get in touch with his daughter.
– We can not believe that this is happening with us, and with our daughter. “I beg anyone for help so that my child’s life is not ruined,” Dudich told the BBC.
Sapega’s girlfriend, Roman Protasevich, has long been wanted in Belarus. Protasevich works as a journalist, and is one of the key people behind the news service NEXTA. This was an important source of information during the huge wave of protests in Belarus in August last year, after incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko won the election, which the opposition believed was a result of cheating.
– It’s not illegal, is it?
Dudich is not allowed to visit his daughter in the KGB prison in Minsk.
The only sign of life she has of her daughter is a video clip that was shown on state television in Belarus on Monday night, where Sapega admits to having published confidential information belonging to Belarusian security services.
According to the mother, the daughter’s behavior on the clip is not similar to her, which leads her to believe that the admission came under duress.
Sapega is accused of being an activist, like his girlfriend, but this is not the case according to Dudich.
– I do not understand why she is arrested. She lives her life like a normal young lady. She studies, has fun and is in love. It’s not illegal, is it? I do not understand, she says.
Think it’s a blatant lie
The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, is not happy with the allegations made against him after the hijacking.
– As we predicted, those who want to hurt us, here at home and abroad, have changed their methods of attacking the state. They have crossed many “red lines” and crossed the line of common sense and human morality, Lukashenko said in a speech to the National Assembly on Wednesday, according to the state news agency Belta.
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President Alexander Lukashenko believes that those who “attack the state” have crossed the boundaries of common sense and human morality. Photo: AP
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Lukashenko believes it is a blatant lie that the Ryanair plane was forced to land, and says the country acted legally to protect the people.
The EU and the US have previously imposed sanctions on the president and his immediate entourage, following political violence in the wake of the August election.
Several thousand then demonstrated in protest against Lukashenko winning an election that, according to the EU, was neither free nor fair.
The EU is now considering imposing further sanctions, and has demanded that the young couple be released immediately.
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