The European Union, Greece and a number of other member states have condemned Belarus for forcing a Ryanair plane to land at Minsk airport as it flew over Belarus en route from Athens to Lithuania.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko ordered the MiG-29 fighter jet to scramble and escort the Ryanair plane to Minsk due to a supposed bomb threat, however no bomb was found on board, according to officials.
Security checks on the 171 passengers on the flight, including 11 Greek citizens, lead to the arrest of journalist Roman Protasevich who was placed on a terrorist watchlist and remained accused for several crimes by Belarusian security services.
Mr Protasevich is the former editor of NEXTA and NEXTA Live, two influential channels, and he is a prominent opposition blogger. The Belarusian president has labelled NEXTA a terrorist organisation and has been acused of provoking riots after his channels became one of the main conduits for organising last year’s anti-Lukashenko protests over election fraud.
Mr Protasevich has been living in exile with Poland having rejected an extradition request sent by Minsk.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis tweeted: “The forced landing of a commercial plane to detain a journalist is an unprecedented shocking act.”
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He demanded all passengers’ release, and said “Enough is enough”.
The Foreign Ministry of Greece also condemned the forced landing, in what it called a “state hijacking”.
The ministry said, “This act which placed passengers’ lives in danger is unacceptable”.
European leaders will discuss the matter at the European Council meeting in Brussels on Monday.
European Council president Charles Michel said in a statement: “I call on Belarus authorities to immediately release the detained passenger and to fully guarantee his rights. EU leaders will discuss this unprecedented incident tomorrow during the European Council. The incident will not remain without consequences.”