Europe, United States urged UN to open emergency investigation after civil aircraft hijacking in Belarus

The European Members of UN Security Council Yes United States asked this Wednesday in a joint statement “that the International Civil Aviation Organization urgently investigate ”the alleged hijacking of the Ryanair Sunday to arrest an opponent of Belarus, after a session of the maximum of the body of the organism.

This fact is “Unacceptable and unprecedented” and those responsible must “Be fully responsible”, adds the statement, which “strongly condemns” the incident and calls for the “immediate release” of the Belarusian “independent journalist” Roman Protasevich and his russian girlfriend Sofia Sapega, both arrested in Minsk after the plane arrived, resulting in international condemnation and European Union (EU) sanctions.

“Air hacking”

Within the framework of the sanctions, The EU closed its airspace to Belarusian planes on Monday. Poland, which shares a long border with Belarus, made it official on Wednesday and the ban is expected to have a significant effect on flights of Belarusian airlines, including the national airline Belavia, in Western Europe. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) also recommended avoiding Belarusian airspace.

This Wednesday, the regime of Lukashenko accused France of “air piracy” for denying its airspace to a Belarusian plane that covered the route between Minsk and Barcelona, ​​forcing it to turn around.

“It is an absolutely scandalous act and an immoral act. Honestly, it’s practically aerial piracy ”, Belarusian diplomacy spokesman Anatoly Glaz said.

For his part, the secretary general of the NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, denounced the “absolutely unacceptable” attitude of Minsk and an “attack” on fundamental rights and freedom of the press.

The 26-year-old dissident who the Belarusian government accuses of being involved “Terrorist activities”, is a former editor of the influential opposition media Nexta, which encouraged the massive mobilization of Belarusians during the 2020 protests, after Lukashenko’s controversial re-election.

Belarusian television broadcast a video of the young man, recorded in a prison in Minsk, in which he pleaded guilty, a confession resulting from coercion according to his relatives and opponents of the regime.

His father, Dimitri Protasevich, told the agency AFP that his lawyer had not been able to see him and that he is afraid of being in the hospital. “We believe his life and health are in danger”, he claimed.

The Belarusian government had previously been subjected to western sanctions for the crackdown on the 2020 protests against the re-election of Lukashenko, which the EU considers fraudulent and does not recognize.

“Red lines”

Lukashenko criticized his “Opponents from abroad and within the country.” “They crossed a multitude of red lines, they went beyond the limits of human understanding and morality,” he said.

He also denounced that his country is “Scenario of experiments which will then go east.” He has repeatedly stated that after him the next on the Western list is the Russian President, Vladimir Poutine, your main ally.

Russia considers that there is no reason to doubt Lukashenko’s version of events, although he was measured in his comments.

The spokesperson for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zajarova, he criticized Moscow’s allegations of complicity in the affair, denouncing “fanciful interpretations” and called for an “objective investigation” into the incident.

Belarusian authorities claim that the bomb threat which forced the hijacking of the plane came from the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.

The transcription of the dialogues between the controllers and the pilot shows that authorities insisted that the plane land in Belarus and not in a neighboring country.

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