JAILED BELARUS SCRIBE, GIRLFRIEND NOW UNDER HOUSE ARREST

The Belarusian dissident journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega, who were arrested during the forced landing of a Ryanair flight, have been transferred to house arrest, Belarusian authorities confirmed to Ulf Mauder and Christian Thiele of Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

According to the investigation committee, both had made "consistent confessions" and agreed to cooperate with investigators. The move was first announced by the blogger's mother and Belarus' opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya earlier on Friday.

Natalia Protasevich, who lives in exile in Poland, told dpa that her daughter, who lives in Minsk, drove to an address given to her on Thursday evening where she met her brother and handed him food and clothes.

But the mother said neither the family nor the lawyers have received official updates from Belarusian authorities on Roman's status.

Instead, the family is relying on private channels for information. She pointed out that the public prosecution's charges against her son remained.

The authoritarian leadership in Minsk accuses the 26-year-old blogger of organizing mass unrest against long-time ruler Alexander Lukashenko and thus "grossly violating public order," among other things.

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