Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I never thought I would have to stand in our Parliament and describe a scene where Ryanair, an Irish airline, was effectively forced to perform a rendition flight between two European Union member countries, Greece and Lithuania. A rendition flight was performed on the order of the Belarusian, Alexander Lukashenko. It is an unprecedented outrage. I cannot begin to imagine the terror on that flight, the terror of EU citizens being told that a bomb had been placed onboard. As confusion reigned, a journalist became aware that the flight was being redirected, not to the closet airport in Lithuania, but to Belarus from where he had fled, having sought sanctuary in the European Union. I cannot imagine the terror experienced by the journalist at that moment or the further terror experienced by those onboard as a fighter plane appeared, under the auspices of giving guidance to the airliner.

It has been called international piracy and a state-sponsored hijacking. I would add that it was state-sponsored terrorism. Terrorism has many forms. One aspect is to send a message of terror not just to the victims, in this case the journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega, but to anyone who would oppose the rule of Alexander Lukashenko. There is another aspect. It was a hijacking, international piracy and state-sponsored terrorism, but it was also a kidnapping. The kidnapping part cannot be lost in this. The most important thing now is the safe return of Roman Protasevich and Sofia Sapega, who is a student. That is of paramount importance. In addition to welcoming this motion, I welcome the immediate statement from our Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, in the hours following it calling for their release. That cannot be lost in the outrage and shock of what happened.

Protasevich was dangerous to the Belarusian regime because of his reporting. He was dangerous because he reported on what was happening in Belarus. The media organisation for which Protasevich works has a telegram channel with more than 1.2 million subscribers, which is a notable figure. It is a huge audience in Belarus, that is, 1.2 million subscribing to Protasevich’s telegram channel, considering it has a population of just 9.5 million people. It shows how desperate the depths are to which autocratic leaders will sink to in order to silence the free press. It underscores the importance of a free press in democratic societies.

It must be said that the EU has failed to act with sufficient strength against Lukashenko and, in particular, against his cronies. The sanctions introduced last year and in February have clearly been ineffective. They were ineffective because they did not target the correct people. It is welcome that the Minister spoke about further sanctions and suggested there would be discussions on what they would consist of. It is not unknown that Lukashenko surrounds himself with oligarchs who have made their vast fortunes from petrol and fertiliser. If the EU really wants to target Lukashenko and his allies, it should go after the petrol and fertiliser oligarchs. Sanction them and make them pariahs. Then we will see the rats scuttling from the ship of Lukashenko.

This is a genuine test of EU foreign policy. It is also a test of the EU’s policy not just outside our borders, but within our borders. People like Lukashenko have been empowered by the fact that other regimes in the European Union have acted in a way that was detrimental to our values and to the rights of citizens in the European Union. If we are to truly confront Lukashenko, we must get the house of the European Union in order. It has been stated, and I will repeat it, that the rule of law should apply in all circumstances. Lukashenko cannot become a convenient enemy where we say he is terrible and cover our eyes to everything else. Every day in Hungary and Poland, for example, migrant and minority communities are persecuted. That must be confronted. We should not tolerate that and we should never equivocate when the Orbán Government and the Polish Government tries to suppress our values and tell us that we cannot include certain amendments to enhance women’s rights and minorities. When Poland enacted LGBT safe zones, we should have been visceral in our response, called for sanctions and should have done anything we could have done to ensure it did not take place.

A point I made last week when this was discussed, and I will make it again today, is that Lukashenko behaved in a manner that was truly appalling in terms of attacking the free press. It is welcome that the Government was quick to bring this motion to the House and it is one which I will fully support, but we cannot cover our eyes to how slow we have been to respond to the situation in the Middle East, in particular Israel’s conduct. Only a few weeks ago, Israel blew up a building that housed the offices of Al Jazeera and the Associated Press. That cannot be forgotten. If we are to stand in opposition to attacks on free press over the skies of Belarus, we must also stand in total opposition to it wherever it happens in the world. The Government of Netanyahu blew up a building that housed the offices of Al Jazeera and the Associated Press. I do not think we can ever unsee that. I support the Government motion today, but I ask that we are not blind to where these injustices and autocratic despots operate elsewhere.

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