Belarus minister responsible for Ryanair flight diversion ‘killed himself in his garage’

A Belarus minister who illegally forced down a Ryanair flight to arrest a dissident journalist has killed himself in his garage, according to reports. 

Aleksey Avramenko, 46, was found dead in the garage of his country home, news outlet Nasha Niva reported this week.

In 2021 he used his air force to force a tourist flight carrying two alleged dissidents – Roman Protasevich and his then-girlfriend Sofia Sapega – to land in capital Minsk, after which the pair were detained.

Avramenko was the Belarus Minister of Transport and Communications when Ryanair flight FR4978 from Athens, Greece, to Vilnius in Lithuania, was ordered to land in Minsk while overflying Belarus on May 23, 2021. 

Two sources from Nasha Nova in the autocratic pro-Putin state claim that Avramenko took his own life for unexplained reasons.

In 2021 he used his air force to force down a tourist flight carrying two alleged dissidents – Roman Protasevich (left) and his then girlfriend Sofia Sapega (right)

His relatives found his body, it was reported. The precise cause of his sudden death was not given.

Avramenko had been a minister since 2019 and was closely linked to the Belarus tyrant Alexander Lukashenko, a Putin ally.

The minister’s funeral was held today and was attended by high-ranking Belarus officials, excluding Lukashenko, who sent a wreath.

If the reports are correct, Avramenko is the second Lukashenko minister to take his own life in eight months.

Widely respected pro-Western Belarus foreign minister Vladimir Makei was reported to have taken his own life in November 2022, aged 64.

Avramenko had a secretive private life.

Reports today suggested the Belarus propaganda machine had hidden the evidence that he took his own life.

‘What exactly was the last straw and the reason for such a desperate step remains to be seen,’ said one report.

A sniffer dog checks flight FR4978 at Minsk airport on May 23, 2021, after Belarusian authorities said there was a bomb threat on the plane. No explosives were found on board

Belarusian police arrest Roman Protasevich in Minsk in March 2017

Avramenko had been a minister since 2019 and was closely linked to the Belarus tyrant Alexander Lukashenko, a Putin ally

The downing of the aircraft in May 2021 flouted international norms.

Protasevich ran a Telegram messaging app channel that was widely used by participants in mass protests against the disputed August 2020 election that gave authoritarian Lukashenko a sixth term in office.

The channel, Nexta, is one of the most well known opposition outlets in Belarus. Together with its sister channel, Nexta Live, it has 1.4million followers.

The protests, which lasted for months, were the longest and largest demonstration of opposition to Mr Lukashenko since he took power in 1994.

Belarusian authorities responded to the demonstrations with a brutal crackdown in which more than 35,000 people were arrested, thousands were beaten by police and dozens of media outlets and non-governmental organisations were shut.

Protasevich was living in exile at the time, but he and his girlfriend were arrested when their Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania was ordered to land in Minsk, the capital of Belarus.

Belarusian authorities said there was a bomb threat, but later said no explosives were found on board.

The incident caused outrage in Western countries, with officials in the UK, EU and Nato condemning it as tantamount to hijacking.