The incident of `hijacking` of Ryan air passenger aircraft on the orders of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has become a topic of discussion globally. The President of Belarus is being condemned all over the world.

26-year-old journalist Roman Protasevich was flying to Lithuania in a Ryan Air passenger plane but Belarus forcibly landed the flight in the capital Minsk and arrested the journalist and his girlfriend. According to the reports, it all happened after the order of the President of Belarus. Reports claimed the MIG-29 fighter jet was sent from Belarus to forcefully divert the flight.

Eventually, the aircraft reached its destination i.e. Lithuania with a delay of six hours.

However, this action of Belarus has been criticized by Western countries. European countries have described this act of Belarus as a `terrorist` event. The European Union has imposed economic sanctions on Belarus after this incident and has decided to stop flights. Not only this, now Belarus airline companies will not be able to use European airspace and airports.

According to BBC News, eyewitnesses of the entire incident said that Roman was very scared and was telling fellow travellers that he might be sentenced to death. There were 126 passengers in the aircraft. Belarus is the only European country where prisoners are still hanged. Roman Protasevich is a political activist. He has often been critical of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko.

A video of Roman was also released on Monday, in which he is seen admitting the crimes imposed by the administration of Belarus.

#Belarus Breaking. Pro-government channels published Raman #Pratasevich video address. He was forced to say he is confessing that he was plotting riots pic.twitter.com/vhyIs6FmWC

— Hanna Liubakova (@HannaLiubakova) May 24, 2021

The President of Belarus, Lukashenko, is 66 years old and has been in power in the country since 1994. Since winning the disputed election last year, Lukashenko started suppressing opposing voices and many people of the opposition were arrested.

US President Joe Biden has also criticized Belarus for this action. He has said that the arrest of journalist Protsevich and his re-released video is both an embarrassing attack on political opponents and freedom of the press. Biden has praised the move by the European Union to impose sanctions on Belarus, adding that the US is also in it.

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