After reaching the ground, the exiled Belarusian journalist Raman Pratasevich and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega were taken off the plane and arrested before allowing the passenger plane to continue flying .

After his arrest, a brief video was shown on Belarusian State Television on Monday night, and Pratasevich was watched. He admitted that the authorities had made some charges against him.

Trudeau said at a news conference on Tuesday morning: “The behavior of the Belarusian regime is cruel, illegal and totally unacceptable. This is a clear attack on democracy and freedom of the press. We condemn and call for his immediate release.”

“We also condemn this dangerous intervention in civil aviation. Canada has imposed current sanctions on Belarus and we will study further options.”

Watch: Prime Minister Trudeau’s sanctions on Belarus

Trudeau said that Canada will work with allies and international institutions, including NATO, to put pressure on the regime and defend “global journalists.”

Last year, after Ottawa said it was “subject to widespread wrongdoing” and “systematic repression” and elections that violated human rights under the leadership of President Alexander Lukashenko, Canada announced sanctions against 55 Belarusian officials last year. .

The Belarusian Embassy posted a message on its official website stating that it will close its embassy in Ottawa on September 1 and will stop processing consular documents on July 10.

The embassy said: “It is speculated that the consular functions of the Embassy of the Republic of Belarus in Canada will be further performed by the Consulate General of the Republic of Belarus in New York, the United States of America.”

Repression in Belarus continues

Since Sunday, airlines have diverted flights to avoid the country’s airspace, EU leaders have instructed officials to draft unspecified sanctions against Minsk, and may also ban Belarusian Airlines from the EU’s skies.

British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps (Grant Shapps) told British Airways on Monday to avoid entering Belarusian airspace. He also suspended Belavia Belarusian Airlines’ operating permits and banned flights to and from the UK without special permits.

Lukashenko was re-elected for the sixth term because he was rejected for re-election in the August 2020 election, sparking public protests for several months. Since the beginning of the protests, more than 35,000 people have been arrested and thousands more have been beaten by security forces.

Some people say that more sanctions will not help alleviate the situation, but will only bring Belarus closer to its main sponsor and ally Russia, and reduce the impact of the EU and other countries.

Independent Minsk political analyst Alexander Kraskowski said: “Lukashenko will become an increasingly easy prey for the Kremlin.”

“As a pariah country, Belarus will find it difficult to resist the Kremlin’s request for a single currency, deployment of air bases, and access to profitable Belarusian economic assets.”

Although the West condemned Belarus, the repression continued. On Tuesday, Pavel Seviarynets, the leader of the opposition Christian Democratic Party, was sentenced to seven years in prison for organizing a large-scale riot.

Ales Bialiatski, head of the Viasna Human Rights Center, said: “Most leaders of Belarus’ political parties have been sentenced to prison or forced to flee the country.” Belarus is facing unprecedented political repression and is facing unprecedented political repression. There is a serious human rights crisis.

Pratasevich, who left Belarus in 2019, has become Lukashenko’s number one enemy. A popular messaging app he runs played a key role in helping organize protests, and the authorities have tried to limit his influence.