Four Belarusian government officials have been charged in the United States with aircraft piracy for diverting a Ryanair flight last May to arrest a dissident Belarusian journalist who was on board, U.S. prosecutors said on Thursday.
A Ryanair aircraft, which was carrying Belarusian opposition blogger and activist Roman Protasevich and diverted to Belarus, where authorities detained him, lands at Vilnius Airport in Vilnius, Lithuania May 23, 2021. REUTERS/Andrius SytasNEW YORK, Jan 20 - Four Belarusian government officials have been charged in the United States with aircraft piracy for diverting a Ryanair
Belarus already has faced a wave of sanctions, including travel bans and asset freezes, from the United States, the European Union, Britain and Canada over the diverted flight, which U.S. authorities said was targeted by a false bomb threat.Four U.S. citizens were among the approximately 132 passengers and crew members aboard the flight, prosecutors said.
Protasevich, a fierce critic of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, fled the country in 2019 and worked for Nexta Live, a channel on the Telegram messenger app. Thousands of protesters were arrested in a massive crackdown on the opposition, independent media and other groups.Prosecutors said Churo and FNU LNU arrived at the Minsk air control center before the flight departed Athens for the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, where Protasevich lived, and conveyed the fake bomb threat to air traffic controllers.
FNU LNU, who kept Andrey Anatolievich LNU updated in real time, had an air traffic controller declare a "code red," indicating a credible threat requiring an immediate landing, prosecutors said.