Michel: Belarussian authorities should immediately release Roman Protasevic

The President of the European Council calls for the immediate release of Roman Protasevic, Charles Michel with an announcement issued a while ago, while emphasizing that “the incident will not be left without consequences”.

In particular, Charles Michel points out: “I condemn in the strongest way the forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk, Belarus, on May 23, 2021 and the alleged detention by Belarusian authorities of journalist Roman Protasevic.

I urge the Belarussian authorities to release the detained passenger immediately and to guarantee his full rights. “

“EU leaders will discuss this unprecedented incident tomorrow during the European Council,” he added.

Finally, the President of the European Council emphasizes that “the incident will not go unnoticed”.

European Council President Charles Michel will address “the issue of the forced landing of the Ryanair flight to Minsk” at the extraordinary summit, said his spokesman Bared Leeds, adding that the consequences and possible sanctions will be discussed on the occasion. she”.

German Foreign Minister Haiko Maas warned tonight that the incident with the forced landing of a Ryanair aircraft in Minsk would have “clear consequences” from the EU, noting that it was a “serious breach of European civil aviation”.

“The fact that the plane traveling between two EU countries was forced to make a stopover, under the pretext that there was a bomb threat, is a serious violation of civil aviation rules in Europe. “We are very concerned about the information that journalist Roman Protasevic was arrested in this way,” the German foreign minister said in a Twitter post.

Maas stressed that this event will not be ignored and will have “clear” consequences from the European Union. He said it would be discussed at the upcoming summit and that Germany was already in contact with its EU partners on the issue.

An official statement issued by the Foreign Ministry condemned Protasevic’s arrest and called for his immediate release.

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