Rerouted flight to arrest journalist: Belarusians charged
US justice announced on Thursday the indictment of Belarusian government officials accused of having diverted a Ryanair plane in 2021 to arrest an opposition journalist who was on board.
The plane had been forced to land on May 23 in Minsk and the Belarusian authorities had arrested a dissident journalist, Roman Protasevich, and his partner Sofia Sapega who were on board.
AFP
According to a statement from the federal prosecutor in Manhattan, four Belarusian officials are charged with “conspiracy to commit an act of piracy to divert Ryanair flight 4978” of May 23, 2021, which linked Athens to Vilnius, towards the Minsk airport “in response to an alleged bomb threat on board the plane”.
In detail, American justice accuses “Belarusian government officials Leonid Mikalaevich Churo, Oleg Kazyuchits”, and two others, with incomplete or unknown identities “of having participated centrally in the plot”. The four men reside in Belarus and are considered “at large” by American justice.
International outrage
There were on board this Ryanair flight “four American nationals and more than a hundred other passengers”, according to the press release of the federal prosecutor of Manhattan Damian Williams. On the side of the accused, Leonid Churo and Oleg Kazyuchits are director and deputy director of Belarusian civil aviation. The other two are officers of the Belarusian State Security Service.
On May 23, 2021, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko sparked international outrage by sending a fighter jet to intercept Ryanair flight FR4978 linking Greece to Lithuania. The plane had been forced to land in Minsk and the Belarusian authorities had arrested a dissident journalist, Roman Protasevich, and his partner Sofia Sapega who were on board. Several countries, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and the European Union, had announced sanctions against Belarus.
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