Bloomberg on “state hijacking”: Greek one of the three passengers who landed in Minsk

A new aspect in the case that has taken on international dimensions with the flight from Athens to Vilnius which diverted its course to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, resulting in the arrest of journalist Roman Protasevic, who was wanted in Belarus, gave the Bloomberg agency.

A Greek man is among the passengers of the Ryanair plane that took off from the flight in Minsk, Belarus, where he was forced to make an emergency landing on Sunday, according to a report by the agency.

According to the report, in addition to journalist Roman Protasevic and his partner, two Belarusian nationals and a Greek national landed in Minsk. However, it remains unclear why the specific passengers disembarked in Minsk, according to a source close to the investigations.

“We believe that KGB agents also disembarked from the flight,” said Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary.

EU sanctions on Belarus

To seal its airspace on Belarusian Airlines aircraft and impose sanctions in his status Alexander Lukashenko, charged with “state hijacking” and his arrest dissident journalist Roman Protasevicdecided the European Union, after two hours of talks at the Brussels Summit, with the “27” also demanding the immediate release of the 26-year-old and his partner, Sofia Sapega, as well as the guarantee of their free movement.

“It is not enough just to remain in verbal convictions. A new grid of strong sanctions against it must be adopted Belarus so as to send a message that such practices cannot and should not be tolerated on the European continent, “the prime minister had said earlier in his speech, expressing anger at the” state hijacking “.

In more detail, the European Council:

• Calls the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to urgently investigate this unprecedented and unacceptable incident.
• Calls the Council to adopt additional lists against persons and entities as soon as possible, on the basis of the existing sanctions regime and further targeted financial sanctions, inviting the High Representative and the Committee to submit proposals, without delay, for this purpose.
• Calls all EU-based airlines to avoid Belarusian airspace.
• Calls the Council to adopt the necessary measures to block the flights of Belarusian aircraft in EU airspace and to prevent access to EU airports by flights operated by them.
• The European Council Expresses its solidarity with Latvia, following the unjustified expulsion of Latvian diplomats.

This is a quick and dynamic response, but its true extent will not be known until officials, diplomats and lawyers consider the details of the sanctions, which must be drawn up to meet the legal challenges.

The Greek proposal for Belarus

The road to a statement by the leaders of the European Council, condemning the hijacking of the plane, while calling for a ban on flights to EU from the national airline of Belarus showed the Greek diplomats from the beginning of the discussion, a proposal that was finally adopted by the “27”.

Under the microscope of EYP the flight of Ryanair – Investigation of whether there were agents

Under the microscope of EYP are the passengers of the flight of Ryanair, which diverted its course to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, resulting in the arrest of journalist Roman Protasevic, who was wanted in Belarus.

According to a report by Open, 126 passengers They left the “Eleftherios Venizelos” airport with the specific flight and when they landed in Minsk on an emergency basis, the journalist Roman Protasevic and his partner were arrested.

However, there are three more people whose role is being investigated, as there were 121 people when the plane took off. EYP is conducting an investigation to identify the specific persons and their role, while according to the report, it will request audiovisual material from the airport to see exactly where the journalist was inside “Eleftherios Venizelos”, who are around him. He will also ask for the list of passengers on the flight, if he does not already have it.

The path of the activist journalist in our country

Since this morning, a great deal of research has been done on how the journalist arrived in our country and how he moved. THE Roman Protasevic seems to have been found in our country on May 9th. The Greek authorities found out that the journalist arrived in Greece on the eve of the Delphi Economic Forum but was not declared in the official mission of the leader of the official opposition of Belarus.

She was first located in the center of Athens, on Mitropoleos Street, where she was with the leader of the Lithuanian opposition, and then at the Acropolis, the Polytechnic and the Delphi Economic Forum.

It is noted that the journalist left for Crete with his partner on May 15, while on May 16 the leader of the opposition left.