Ryanair ble tvunget til landing i Minsk i 2021 på grunn av..... - Aviation24.be

 ...en passasjer, en journalist, som kritiserte Lukashenko.

Journalist on Ryanair plane diverted to Minsk by Belarus sentenced to eight years in jail

By

 André Orban

3 May 2023

Roman Protasevich, a Belarusian journalist who was arrested after a Ryanair plane was forced to land at Minsk airport in May 2021, has been sentenced to eight years in jail on charges of conspiring against the state.

Protasevich had worked as a journalist at the news outlet Nexta, which reported extensively on mass protests against President Alexander Lukashenko in 2020 following an election that was denounced as rigged by the opposition and Western governments.

The circumstances of Protasevich’s arrest prompted international outrage and triggered European Union sanctions against Lukashenko.

Protasevich’s Russian former partner, Sofia Sapega, who was arrested with him, was sentenced to six years and is set to be transferred to serve her term in Russia.