The " Risk " Factor !

 Journalism is becoming a risky occupation in some parts of the world.  What a journalist writes is usually about events in the country they cover and if he or she is critical of the government in office  it is not unusual to face physical retaliation.

Such was the experience of Roman Protasevich who was a passenger on  a Ryanair plane travelling from Athens to Lithuania.  It seems that Protasevich had very adverse things to say about the president of Belarus and while his plane was crossing that country it received an urgent report that there was a bomb aboard.  Under the international convention, it was ordered to land immediately and the nearest airport was at Minsk, the capital of Belarus.

It seems that bomb alert was personally ordered by the Belarus president and he reinforced  his demand by sending one of his Soviet era MIG-29 fighter jets to ensure that the passenger plane complied.  The moment it was on the ground, Belarus police boarded the plane and arrested Roman Protasevich.

It seems that this 26 year old journalist worked for  a Poland based news service and his report on street demonstrations earned him the ire of the president.  Passengers on the Ryanair plane reported that he had his head in his hands and he was extremely distressed when he learned of the diversion to Minsk. He was heard to say  "  I will get the death penalty there ".

Of course, a search of the plane revealed no explosives and it was quite clear that the diversion was carried out on the instructions from the Belarus president. Belarus was closely aligned with Russia during the years of the cold war and President Lukashenko has been in power since  1994.  He is clinging to power and about 35,000 citizens are in detention for widespread discontent according to human rights groups.

No doubt the western world will protest at this abuse of international airline policy but Belarus remains in Russian orbit and Lukashenko has the protection of Vladimir Putin, who is known to send GRU assassin teams into other parts of the world to silence critics,.

At least this is a timely warning to news gatherers from across the world. When international travel fully resumes they would be wise to heed the actual route that their intended airline proposes to fly.  Even tourists can find their exit from a visited country delayed if they become involved in a spat between the great powers.

What happens to Roman Protasevich will be followed with great interest.  No doubt he will face a mock trial on the basis of some trumped up charge but the publicity surrounding the legality of his capture will probably save him from the death penalty.

It is quite clear that the news we read or watch on television comes to us at great personal risk to the journalists that gather it in many parts of the world.