Belarusians in New York went to a rally because of Lukashenka's cruelty: how the rally went

On May 24, on the initiative of the Belarusian-American Association, a rally was held in New York in support of all political prisoners in Belarus near the building of the Belarusian consulate. This was reported by Aliaksandr Khomchanka on his Facebook page.

The rally was held in support of all political prisoners in Belarus, in memory of the real patriot of Belarus, Vitold Ashurka, who was forcibly tortured in prison, against the act of state terrorism - the hijacking of the Ryanair FR46 passenger plane, committed by the dictatorial regime. The protesters also called for the urgent release of the Belarusian opposition leader Roman Protasevich, a journalist and former editor-in-chief of the telegram channel NEXTA.

In addition to the Belarusians of New York, the neighbors of Belarus, representatives of the Lithuanian and Ukrainian diaspora of America, took part in the action. After the rally at the building of the Belarusian consulate, the protesters held a rally at the UN building.

What happened

On May 23, the former editor-in-chief of the telegram channel Nexta, who covered the protests in Belarus, Roman Protasevich, was detained in Minsk. He was taken off the plane, which was flying from Athens to Vilnius and urgently landed in Minsk after the message about “mining”.

Many European leaders, politicians and diplomats demanded the immediate release of the plane and passengers, as well as an international investigation into the incident.

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Ryanair, operating the flight, said the Belarusian air traffic control service informed the crew about the threat on board the aircraft. Ryanair notified the relevant national and European aviation security agencies of this regrettable delay caused by circumstances beyond the airline's control, the airline said in a statement.

Many countries have imposed air blockades on Belarusian aircraft.

What the Belarusian authorities are accusing Protasevich of

25-year-old Roman Protasevich is the host of the channel in the NEXTA project (read as “nekhta”, which means “someone” in Belarusian), which was founded in 2015 by Stepan Putilo, then a schoolboy and friend of Roman.

After the presidential elections, which, according to official data, were won by Alexander Lukashenko, Nexta became the main source of information about the protests unfolding in the country, and more recently, their coordinator.

In August last year, Protasevich said that he was forced to flee to Poland because of the persecution by the Belarusian special services. Stepan Putilo also did this earlier.

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“From four to six criminal cases have been opened against me and Stepan, with a total term of imprisonment of up to 25 years,” Protasevich said at the time. - There are articles "disclosure of state secrets", "insult to the president", "incitement to mass riots" and so on. How many things are real, we have no idea. "

When asked if he was afraid that the Belarusian special services would get to him in Poland, Protasevich replied that he was in the process of obtaining refugee status, and they would not be able to deport him to Belarus. But he admitted that he periodically changes addresses, phone numbers and tries not to walk around at night.

In November 2020, the KGB of Belarus included Protasevich, along with another creator of Next, Stepan Putilo, on the list of terrorists.

In addition, the Belarusian Investigative Committee opened criminal cases against Putilo and Protasevich under articles on organizing mass riots in Minsk and inciting social hostility towards representatives of the authorities and the police. These articles imply a punishment of up to 15 and 12 years in prison, respectively.

The Nexta Telegram channel and its logo were recognized as extremist on the territory of Belarus.

The channel Belarus of the Brain, which is currently headed by Protasevich, was also recognized as extremist.

Read more about who Protasevich is and why Belarus intercepted the plane for him, read in our material.