Four Belarusian officials have been indicted in New York, accused of “conspiracy to commit an act of piracy to divert Ryanair flight 4978”.
US justice announced 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. According to a statement from the Manhattan federal prosecutor, four Belarusian officials are charged with a “conspiracy to commit an act of piracy to divert Ryanair flight 4978” of May 23, 2021, which linked Athens to Vilnius, to Minsk airport “in response to an alleged bomb threat on board the aircraft”.
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In detail, the American justice accuses “Belarusian government officials Leonid Mikalaevich Churo, Oleg Kazyuchits”, and two others, with incomplete or unknown identities “to have participated centrally in the conspiracy”. The four men reside in Belarus and are considered “on the run” by American justice.
There was on board this Ryanair flight “four American nationals and more than a hundred other passengers”, according to a statement from Manhattan federal prosecutor Damian Williams. On the side of the accused, Leonid Mikalaevich 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.