State AirJacking and Abduction

"The captain suddenly banked and went downward, then he came on the intercom and said, 'Unfortunately, we have to land in Minsk', for reasons he did not explain."

"He [air passenger] suddenly stood up and tried to give  his phone and his laptop to the woman who was with him. And he began to tell the people around him, 'No, we can't land in Minsk, they will arrest me'."

Ryanair flight 4978 from Athens to Vilnius, Lithunia, passenger

"They took the boy aside and shook his belongings on to the runway. We asked him what was going on."

"He said what it was and added, 'The death penalty awaits me here'."

Passenger, Ryanair flight 4978

Lithuanian passenger Mantas (centre, front) said Mr Protasevich "made a mistake" giving his laptop to his girlfriend   Reuters

 

A regularly scheduled flight, a low-cost passenger flight popular among middle-class people in Lithuania, budget-driven tourists who plan a holiday on the Mediterranean. Among the 126 passengers on board Sunday's flight from Athens to Vilnius was a young pair living as refugees from Belarus, in Vilnius. He, Roman Protasevich, 26, a journalist, and she, 23-year-old Sofia Sapega, a professional photographer studying at the European Humanities University. Returning from an assignment where they decided to use the opportunity to take a break in the sun.

The journalist was a hunted man. Designated by the Belarusian military government of Alexander Lukashenko as a terrorist. The sham election that 're-elected' Lukashenko in a hugely unlikely landslide, back to the presidency last summer after 26 years in dictatorial power, occasioned large, vociferous opposition and ongoing street protests. Harshly and violently put down, until protests were exhausted of their furious oxygen. 

 

And Roman Protasevich was a protest organizer and news editor as well as journalist, placing him in very bad odour with the Lukashenko government. He was acutely aware that the political leader of Belarus was interested in apprehending him. It was why he left Belarus. The pair had accompanied the Belarusian self-exiled (for self-protection) opposition leader Sviatiana Tsikhanouskaya to the Delphi Economic Forum on assignment in early May. 

When the plane's pilot gave no explanation for his decision to divert the plane to land in Minsk, the Belarusian capital, the plane passengers were stunned and alarmed, many fearing a bomb aboard the plane, others that something had gone mechanically wrong and they were in deep trouble. Only Mr. Protasevich knew what was happening: "We can't land there. They are going to arrest me"!, he was heard to exclaim.

 

Mr Protasevich was charged with terrorism and inciting riots after covering the events of the 2020 Belarus presidential election  Getty Images

 

He had, in fact, spoken with a friend about the potential dangers of overflying Belarus, with his wanted status in mind. It was only when he and  his girlfriend were in the act of boarding the plane back to Vilnius that he experienced the first of a series of peculiar incidents; each one a warning signal. Standing at the check-in queue behind him was a Russian-speaking man who used his phone to quickly photograph the journalist's documents as he presented them to the check-in, and then quickly disappeared.

 

Others remained in the queue, silently watching, taking note of everything; Belarusian KGB agents. In flight, the aircraft continued at cruising altitude, maintaining speed at a point in time when it would generally have started its descent to Vilnius. Two minutes before entering Lithuanian airspace where it was scheduled to land in Vilnius in another ten minutes, there was an abrupt turn. If it was an emergency landing, Vilnius was a lot closer than Minsk, where the pilot now headed the aircraft toward.  

"We all on the plane had panicked because we thought we were going to crash."

"This was a sudden dive, changing the altitude very drastically. It was very violent. I've never felt this on an airplane. Everybody was in shock."

Lithuanian passenger Raselle Grigoryeva

While passengers excitedly speculated between themselves what might have occasioned the swift decision to deviate from the expected route, they were unaware that a Belarusian MiG-29 had ordered the change of course as it intercepted the Ryanair flight. When that happened, the young journalist leapt into action, desperately attempting to persuade the crew to return to its original flight pattern, to no avail. 

Once landed in Minsk and everyone deplaned, both young people, the journalist and the photographer were seen in loose custody, while the KGB authorities made an effort to divert attention from an obvious kidnapping taking place by making a show of document-checking all passengers despite the security officers having no obvious interest in the other passengers. "It was obviously not why we landed", remarked a passenger.

Journalist and photographer were soon closely escorted out of sight where each was placed in a waiting SUV. Six hours on, the passengers and crew were given permission to leave, landing in Vilnius 35 minutes later. It was noted that three other passengers had remained behind in Minsk and speculation that they were Belarusian or Russian KGB agents that followed the couple was rife. 

The plane was diverted on an emergency basis reflecting orders from a missive authorities had received warning of a bomb ostensibly placed on board by the terrorist group Hamas. according to Minsk authorities. Hams, no less. Whoever thought that one up was evidently flailing around for anything that might sound feasible, despite that the group their imagination conjured up, was anything but likely to be involved. 

 

Supporters of Mr Protasevich await him at Vilnius airport with a sign reading: "I am, we are Roman Protasevich"    PETRAS MALUKAS/GETTY IMAGES

 

Whoever posited that scenario felt, with good reason, that revealing that the Belarusian tyrant had given explicit orders to divert the plane else it would be shot down, would not go down well. Inspired, perhaps by the Ukrainian passenger jet that had been shot down by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as it left the airport in Tehran, Iran. Or the Malaysian passenger jet shot down by ethnic Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.

 

Tyrants of all stripes care little of what the world thinks of them.

A video was posted online on Monday where Roman Prostasevich is seen to assure he is in good health, although no one knows where he is being held. In the video he speaks of having played a role in organizing mass protests last year in Minsk. That he is under duress is beyond doubt. As for Ms.Sapega, she is being held, it is believed, at the notorious Okrestina prison in Minsk, and what will  happen to them both is now anyone's guess.