Ryanair Flight

Belarus diverts Ryanair flight to arrest journalist

Ryanair Flight
Ryanair Flight FR4978 diverted Belarus
President Lukashenko ordered his forces to make Ryanair 737 to land in Minsk, Belarus so that Roman Protasewich could be detained.
President Lukashenko ordered his forces to make Ryanair 737 to land in Minsk, Belarus so that Roman Protasewich could be detained.

Ryanair commercial flight, FR4978  carrying 171 passengers on board, from Athens (Greece) to Vilnius (Lithuania) was diverted to Minsk (Belarus) for several hours, because of a bomb scare on Sunday in order to arrest a dissident journalist ex-editor of the Nexta group, Roman Protasewich, on board.  

The plane turned east to Minsk shortly before it reached the Lithuanian border

The plane was escorted by a MiG-29 to Minsk. Protasevich (26) was detained, although no explosives were found, before the plane was allowed to resume its flight.

The plane finally landed in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, its original destination at 21:25 local time (18:25GMt) more than seven hours after its scheduled arrival.

Nexta is a media operation with a telegram channel  and has visibility on ‘twitter and YouTube.