The G7 demands that Belarus immediately release Protasevich

“We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Protasevich and all other journalists and political prisoners in Belarus,” G7 ministers said in a joint statement issued by the British government.

They also expressed “the strongest condemnation of the unprecedented actions of the Belarussian authorities”.

Belarus’s authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko threatened the safety of other passengers and flight crew, ministers said. “We call on the International Civil Aviation Organization to urgently address this challenge in terms of its rules and standards,” the statement said. “This move is also a serious attack on media freedom.”

“We will step up our efforts, including through appropriate sanctions, to facilitate the accountability of the Belarussian authorities for their actions,” the ministers emphasized.

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The British Foreign Secretary Dominik Rab, who holds the presidency of the G7, said on Twitter that “we will use all the instruments at our disposal to bring the Lukashenko regime to justice”.

Lukashenko comments for the first time on the hijacking of a Ryanair plane: “There was a terrorist on the plane”

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Opposition journalist Protasevich’s girlfriend was arrested for two months

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It has already been reported that on Sunday a Ryanair passenger plane en route from Athens to Vilnius in Belarusian airspace near the Lithuanian border had to change course and go to Minsk, where Belarusian criminal police detained one of its passengers, opposition leader Svyatlan Cihany. Roman Protasevich, a founder of the opposition media and founder and former editor-in-chief of the opposition media Nexta, is facing the death penalty in Belarus. Protasevich’s girlfriend Sofia Sapega, who was also among the plane’s passengers, was also detained.

The European Council agreed on Monday evening on economic and personnel sanctions against Belarus, including a ban on Belarusian airlines flying in EU airspace and access to EU airports. The European Council also called for the immediate release of Protasevich and Sapega and for their freedom of movement to be guaranteed.