section_path: Presidency/Political repression/Allegations of state-sponsored hijacking
section_name: Allegations of state-sponsored hijacking
paragraph_text: Allegations of state-sponsored hijacking
  
  On 23 May 2021, Lukashenko personally ordered Ryanair Flight 4978 en route from Athens to Vilnius, carrying the opposition journalist Roman Protasevich, to land in Belarus. The flight was forced to land at Minsk International Airport shortly before it reached the Lithuanian border after Belarusian air traffic control conveyed a report of explosives on board the plane. The flight was escorted by a Belarusian Air Force MiG-29 fighter jet. Belarusian authorities said no explosives were found and arrested Protasevich, who was placed in a list of "individuals involved in terrorist activity" the previous year for his role in the anti-government protests and incitement to Public disorder. The move was condemned by opposition figures, with Tsikhanouskaya saying that Protasevich "faces the death penalty" in Belarus.