On May 23 Belarus scrambled a MiG-29 fighter to force down a Ryanair passenger plane flying over its territory and arrested a passenger, the former editor and co-founder of the opposition Nexta Telegram channel. He is now being held in the KGB detention centre in central Minsk but has not yet been formally charged. His girlfriend Sofia Sapega was also arrested and is in the same jail. Both of them have released videos, obviously made by their captors, where they seemingly confessed to their crimes. 

The incident has caused outrage in the rest of Europe, which has closed Belarusian airspace to EU flights and western governments have called for the couple's immediate release. Even Hamas, which Minsk claimed was sending a bomb to Minsk, has condemned the actions of the Belarusian government. 

bne IntelliNews’ editor-in-chief Ben Aris talks with Tadeusz Giczan, who replaced Protasevich as editor-in-chief of Belarus opposition Telegram channel Nexta about what we know so far and how the opposition intends to continue its struggle against the incumbent president Alexander Lukashenko. 

Ben Aris, editor-in-chief, bne IntelliNews  

Tadeusz Giczan, editor-in-chief of Nexta

Start listening to bne Intellinews Podcast, today! Subscribe via iTunes, SoundCloud.