Banning Belarusian Airlines in Response to Belarus’ Diversion of Ryanair Flight FR4978 as a Third-Party Countermeasure
Published: 04 October 2023 Author: Stefan Talmon
On 23 May 2021, Ryanair Flight FR4978, a commercial passenger aircraft flying from Greece to Lithuania, was diverted by Belarusian air traffic control under the pretext of a bomb threat to Minsk Airport while passing through the airspace of the Republic of Belarus. Upon landing, the Belarusian authorities arrested two passengers on board – Belarusian blogger and political activist Roman Protasevich and his then partner Sofia Sapega – on charges of inciting unrest against the government of Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko. Protasevich was a co-founder and editor of the Telegram messaging application Nexta, which played a key role in the massive protests against President Lukashenko after the rigged presidential elections in August 2020. After having been placed under house arrest for almost two years, Protasevich was sentenced on 3 May 2023 to eight years in prison for organising mass riots, preparing public disorder and creating or leading an extremist group. Sapega had earlier been sentenced to six years. Both were later pardoned by President Lukashenko. (more…)