“After a three-year investigation, charges have been brought against three Belarusian citizens for falsely detaining a Polish plane in Belarus in order to detain a dissident,” Eurojust said in a statement. The plane was registered in Poland.
“Forcing a commercial flight to land in Minsk posed a direct threat to the life and health of 132 passengers and unlawfully deprived the crew and passengers of their freedom,” the statement said.
The Polish Prosecutor’s Office has brought charges against three citizens of Belarus, who held high positions in the field of national security and air navigation at the time of the incident.
The statement of the Polish Prosecutor’s Office states that the defendants are the former head of the Belarusian state air traffic control service, Leonid C., head of the Minsk air traffic control shift Yevgenija T., and senior KGB official Andrejs AM.
Eurojust stated that they “have been accused of unlawfully depriving 132 people of their freedom through terrorism and of intending to seriously intimidate many people, including groups opposed to the Belarusian regime”.
Polish authorities said that because the suspects were not in Poland, “the prosecutor could not inform them of the charges” and asked the court to order their detention so that they could be put on an international wanted list.
It has already been announced that on May 23, 2021, the Belarusian authorities forced the “Ryanair” plane to land in Minsk, claiming that threats had been received about a bomb on the plane.
Pratasevičs, the creator of the opposition Telegram channel Nexta, and his girlfriend Sofija Sapega were among the passengers of the plane. They were both detained after the plane landed.
After this incident, the EU, Great Britain and the USA imposed new sanctions on Belarus.
2024-09-08 00:45:35