The founder of the Nexta Telegram channel and the editor-in-chief of the Belarus Brain Telegram channel Roman Protasevich was detained at the Minsk airport, the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus reported.
Both of these Telegram channels in the republic are recognized as extremist. Protasevich himself appeared on the list of those involved in terrorism and was put on the wanted list.
According to the unregistered human rights center Viasna, the young man flew Ryanair from Athens to Vilnius. It is specified that “after checking the plane in Minsk, the passengers were sent for a second document check, and then Roman was detained”.
As RIA Novosti was told in the press service of the airport “Minsk”, the plane urgently landed in the Belarusian capital after the message about mining, which was not confirmed.
In turn, the Telegram channel “Pool of the First”, close to the press service of the Belarusian president, wrote that when the message about mining was received, the plane was almost over the border, “it was definitely closer to Vilnius, but they turned to Minsk”.
The situation was reported to the head of state, Alexander Lukashenko, who “gave an unconditional command to turn the plane around and receive it.”
To accompany the passenger board, a MiG-29 fighter was lifted into the air.
The founders of Nexta, based in Poland, Stepan Putilo and Roman Protasevich, are accused in Belarus under the criminal articles “Organization of mass riots” and “Organization of group actions that grossly violate public order”. In addition, a criminal case was initiated on the commission of “deliberate actions aimed at inciting social hostility on the basis of professional affiliation”.
They called for participation and coordinated the protests that began after the presidential elections in Belarus and lasted for several months.