/newsroom/taxonomy/term/16115/all en /newsroom/channels/news/expert-belarus-faces-sanctions-over-ryanair-hijacking-331257 <p>Western powers prepared to pile sanctions on Belarus and cut off its aviation links after it scrambled a warplane to intercept a Ryanair aircraft and arrest a dissident journalist’. In a video posted online, the detained blogger, Roman Protasevich, 26, said he was in good health, being held in a pretrial detention facility in Minsk, and acknowledged having played a role in organizing mass disturbances in the capital last year. The comments were immediately dismissed by his allies, including his father, as having been made under duress.</p> Fri, 28 May 2021 20:30:21 +0000 frederique.mazerolle@mcgill.ca 267989 at /newsroom