The US Justice Department charged four Belarus officials with air piracy Thursday for last year's forced diversion of a Ryanair flight in order to arrest a dissident on board.

US charges Belarus officials with air piracy over Ryanair flight diversion

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday mocked the economic sanctions slapped on it by the European Union, calling it 'their powerlessness'. The European Union had imposed wide-ranging economic sanctions on Belarus for the first time in response to what the bloc called the ''escalation of serious human rights violations'', including the detention of journalist Roman Protasevich.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko mocks EU, calls sanctions 'powerlessness'

Belarusian opposition said on Monday that Jailed journalist Roman Protasevich was paraded as 'trophy' in latest public appearance made under duress. Protasevich sat alongside four officials, two of whom were in uniform, saying he had not been made to cooperate with the authorities and that he was in good health after being arrested last month when his Ryanair flight was forced to land in Minsk.

Belarus opposition says jailed journalist paraded as 'trophy' in latest public appearance

The mother of Belarusian journalist and political activist Raman Pratasevich has appealed for international help to free her son and asked her son to stay strong.

Belarus: Mother of detained journalist asks her son to stay strong

The UN civil aviation agency will hold an urgent meeting on Thursday to discuss Belarus after Western powers on the UN Security Council called for the body to investigate Minsk's diversion of a European flight and arrest of a dissident.

UN civil aviation agency ICAO to meet over Belarus plane diversion