Belarus' isolation deepened as several airlines avoided its airspace as the European Union leaders were set to consider a joint response to Belarus' diversion of a plane travelling between EU member nations in order to arrest a prominent Belarusian opposition journalist.
Belarus is not an EU nations, though it borders three EU countries. European air traffic agency, Eurocontrol told the bloc's airlines to reroute flights through nearby countries. As many as 400 flights use Belarusian airspace daily.
Air France's Dutch subsidiary KLM, Finnish airline, Scandinavia's SAS, German carrier Lufthansa, Finnair AY, Singapore Airlines and others, have either suspended or rerouted flights to Belarus. Air France (AF), Air Baltic (BT), Austrian Airlines, Iberia (IB), All Nippon Airways (NH) too are avoiding Belarusian airspace or have suspended overflights of Belarus.
The UK said that Belarusian airlines would not be allowed to enter its airspace unless they had specific authorisation.
Roman Protasevich's arrest
The Ryanair aircraft carrying dissident Belarusian journalist Roman Protasevich was scheduled to fly from Athens in Greece to Vilnius in Lithuania on May 23. While in Belarusian airspace, the pilot was ordered to divert from its course and to land in Minsk. On the ground, the airport authorities searched the baggage of the passengers, checked their identities and detained at least two of them: Protasevich a prominent opponent of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko and his girlfriend, law student Sofia Sapega.
The Belarusian authorities say that they received an anonymous letter claiming that Hamas had planted a bomb on board and so they had duly ordered the pilot to land the aircraft so they could find and destroy the bomb if the report was true.
This claim appears doubtful. It is unclear why someone would decide to notify the authorities of Belarus about the bomb, rather than, for example, the authorities in Greece or Lithuania. When the aircraft was diverted, it was closer to Vilnius than to Minsk.
If the safety of the passengers was the primary concern of Belarusian authorities, they would have probably allowed it to quickly land in Vilnius. Finally, a military aircraft was sent to accompany the Ryanair flight to land at Minsk airport. In the event, no bomb was found on board.
After his detention, opposition journalist Raman Pratasevich was seen in a brief video clip on Belarusian state television late Monday, speaking rapidly to say that he was confessing to some of the charges authorities have leveled against him.
The spokesperson for the UN's human rights office, Rupert Colville, said Pratasevich's appearance likely was not voluntary and that he seemed to have bruising to his face, although it was difficult to tell from the video.
Asked about the video, German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed with Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson that it was worrying and disturbing and makes the EU demand for his release all the more urgent.
(With input from agencies)
