Roman Protasevich, detained after emergency landing of Ryanair flight in Minsk, announced his intention to file a lawsuit against the airline

Former editor-in-chief of the Belarusian opposition Telegram channel Nexta, Roman Protasevich, who was detained in Minsk after the emergency landing of a Ryanair flight , announced his intention to sue the airline.

“I won’t reveal all the details at the moment, but I plan to file a lawsuit against Ryanair and I also call on all passengers who were on board this flight to file a similar lawsuit,” Protasevich said in an appeal on the YouTube channel of Belarusian pro-government activist Dmitry Belyakov, with whom he currently collaborates .

According to Protasevich, a "team of lawyers" is currently working on the lawsuit. The former editor-in-chief of Nexta did not specify what claims against Ryanair will be set out in it or what court it will be filed with.

In his address, Protasevich stated that representatives of the Belarusian opposition were involved in sending the message about the bombing of the Ryanair plane. He also hinted that the grounding of the plane was beneficial to the headquarters of opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, as it became a "clear driver for the promotion of sanctions" against official Minsk.

• After the Ryanair plane landed and was detained, Roman Protasevich began cooperating with the investigation into his criminal case and giving interviews to Belarusian and Russian pro-government media. He is currently under house arrest and is allowed to use the Internet.