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Associated Press

US prosecutors charged four Belarusian government officials on Thursday with aircraft piracy for diverting a Ryanair flight last year to arrest an opposition journalist, using a ruse that there was a bomb threat.
The charges in Manhattan federal court were announced by federal prosecutors.
US Attorney Damian Williams said in a release that the defendants corrupted standards followed by countries around the world to keep passenger planes safe.
He said the indictment provides a prompt and public explanation of what actually happened to Flight 4978.

In August, President Joe Biden levied sanctions against Belarus. At the time, the White House noted the forced landing of a European airliner travelling through Belarus’ airspace to arrest a prominent opposition journalist aboard.
The sanctions marked the one-year anniversary of Alexander Lukashenko’s election as president in an election that the US and international community have said was fraught with irregularities.
The arrested journalist and activist, Raman Pratasevich, ran a popular messaging app that helped organise mass demonstrations against Lukashenko. The 26-year-old Pratasevich left Belarus in 2019 and faced charges there of inciting riots.
Ryanair said Belarusian flight controllers told the pilots that there was a bomb threat against the plane and ordered them to land in Minsk. The Belarusian military scrambled a MiG-29 fighter jet in an apparent attempt to encourage the crew to comply with the orders of flight controllers.
Belarus accused of ‘hijacking’ Ryanair flight to arrest dissident journalist
Lukashenko was awarded a sixth term leading the Eastern European nation last year.
Widespread belief that the vote was stolen triggered mass protests in Belarus that led to increased repressions by Lukashenko’s regime on protesters, dissidents and independent media.
More than 35,000 people were arrested and thousands were beaten and jailed.
Those charged in court papers were identified as Leonid Mikalaevich Churo, director general of Belaeronavigatsia Republican Unitary Air Navigation Services Enterprise, the Belarusian state air navigation authority; Oleg Kazyuchits, deputy director general of Belaeronavigatsia; and two Belarusian state security agents whose full identities were not known to prosecutors.


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Belarus

US charges Belarus officials with piracy over diverted Ryanair plane

A Ryanair plane lands at the International Airport outside Vilnius, Lithuania, in May after it was diverted to Minsk, where Belarus opposition journalist Raman Pratasevich was arrested. Photo: AP

Activist and journalist Raman Pratasevich attends an opposition rally in Minsk, Belarus in March 2012. Photo: AP

Belarus says diplomat hurt in London embassy ‘attack’, makes formal protest

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in September 2021. Belarus says its London embassy has been ‘attacked’ and a diplomat injured. File photo: Reuters

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko looks to ‘ironclad friend’ China for support

Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) greets his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko in Shanghai in 2018. Photo: Xinhua

Belrusians living across the border in Poland protest over last year’s election. Photo: AFP

Belarus opposition leader Sergei Tikhanovsky jailed for 18 years

Sergei Tikhanovsky’s supporters take part in a rally in Minsk, Belarus. File photo: AFP

Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovsky. Photo: dpa

Belarusian politician Mikola Statkevich. Photo: AFP

News

World

Europe


A fake bomb threat was used to force the aircraft to land in Minsk, enabling the arrest of an opposition journalist
Raman Pratasevich ran a popular messaging app that helped organise mass demonstrations against Belarus strongman Lukashenko



A fake bomb threat was used to force the aircraft to land in Minsk, allowing Belarus to arrest opposition journalist Raman Pratasevich.


Aviation

United States