EU agrees new Belarus sanctions after plane arrest
The EU has decided to ban Belarusian airlines from European skies after a flight was diverted to Minsk on Sunday and an dissident journalist arrested.
At a gathering in Brussels, the leaders of the 27 member states likewise told EU airlines never to fly over Belarus, and promised additionally economic sanctions.
Roman Protasevich, 26, was on a flight from Greece to Lithuania that was rerouted over a good supposed bomb threat.
Western countries accused Belarus of "hijacking" the Ryanair plane.
A video has emerged of Mr Protasevich that has been recorded under duress since his detention at Minsk airport.
In the clip, that was released past due on Monday, the journalist said he was in good health insurance and seemingly confessed to crimes he previously been charged with by the Belarusian state.
But activists, including the country's primary opposition leader, criticized the video recording and suggested Mr Protasevich was under pressure to admit wrongdoing.
US President Joe Biden described the activities of the Belarusian authorities just as "outrageous", saying these were "shameful assaults on both political dissent and the freedom of the press".
Mr Protasevich's daddy has told the BBC he fears his son may be tortured.
Dmitri Protasevich said on Mon he was "really afraid" of how his child will be treated by the authorities in his home country.
"We hope that he will cope. We are frightened to even consider it, but it is possible he could be beaten and tortured. We are actually afraid of that," he stated in a video tutorial call.
"We are actually shocked and really upset," he said. "This type of thing shouldn't be going on in the 21st Century in the centre of Europe.
"We hope that the complete international community, like the EU, will put unprecedented strain on the authorities. We expectation the pressure will continue to work and the authorities will realise they've made an extremely big mistake."
Belarus sent a good fighter jet to force Ryanair flight FR4978 - which had departed from the Greek capital, Athens, and was first bound for Vilnius in Lithuania - to property, claiming there is a bomb threat. It touched down in the administrative centre Minsk at 13:16 local time (10:16 GMT) on Sunday.
Police in that case took Mr Protasevich away when the plane's 126 travellers disembarked. The activist, who witnesses said was "very scared", was arrested together with his girlfriend Sofia Sapega.
Ms Sapega's mom told the BBC that the 23-year-old have been taken to a good Minsk jail, adding that the final word she were able to write on her behalf WhatsApp messaging consideration was 'Mummy'. The accusations against her happen to be unclear.
Belarus may be the only European region that still executes prisoners, and witnesses said Mr Protasevich told fellow passengers he feared he'd face the loss of life penalty.
Three other passengers didn't reach the plane's final destination in Vilnius. Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary explained he believed some Belarusian KGB brokers as well departed the plane at Minsk, but it has not been independently verified.
Belarus said the air travel had been diverted as a result of a bomb danger from the Palestinian militant group Hamas. A senior transfer official reading a letter to reporters that he claimed was from the militant group.
"If you don't fulfil our needs, the bomb will explode over Vilnius," it said.
But Hamas has denied any involvement. The group does not have any history or known capacity for mounting operations outside Israel and the Palestinian territories. German leader Chancellor Angela Merkel said the Belarusian state was "completely implausible".
