Airlines re-route to avoid Belarus, opposition says journalist tortured

KYIV/VILNIUS: Airlines re-routed flights to avoid Belarus's airspace on Tuesday and Belarusian planes faced a possible ban from Europe, as international outrage mounted over Minsk forcing down a jetliner and arresting a dissident journalist on board.

A video released overnight showed 26-year-old Roman Protasevich - who was pulled off the Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania in the Belarus capital on Sunday - confessing to having organised anti-government demonstrations. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the video was "concerning" and described the forced landing for the passenger jet as "an unprecedented and unacceptable act". Her foreign minister, Heiko Maas, said Belarusian President Alexander Lukasahenko must pay a "bitter price" for detaining Protasevich.