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“ICAO is deeply concerned by the apparently forced flight of RyanAir [lėktuvo] and the landing of its passengers, which could be a violation of the Chicago Convention, “said the United Nations agency in a Twitter message mentioning an international agreement on civil aviation.
“We are waiting for more information to be officially approved by the parties and operators involved,” added ICAO.
The RyanAir plane, which was supposed to land in Vilnius at 1pm on Sunday, approached the Lithuanian border and suddenly turned towards Minsk and landed there.
The company said the liner had landed when Belarusian air dispatchers reported a possible security threat on the plane. This information was not confirmed during the inspection of the aircraft.
The Belarusian opposition says it did it to arrest Romano Protasevičius, a Belarusian opposition activist and blogger who founded the Nexta news channel, who blew up the plane.
“During today’s flight (May 23) from Athens to Vilnius, Belarusian air dispatchers reported a possible security threat on the plane; received the order to land at the nearest airport in Minsk, ”said Alejandra Ruiz García, the airline’s communications chief.
According to her, the aircraft landed safely and the passengers were disembarked while local services carried out security checks.
“Nothing was found and services allowed the aircraft to take off with passengers and crew after staying in Minsk for about five hours,” Ryanair said in a comment.
The airline claims to have reported the incident to the relevant national and European security agencies.
“We sincerely apologize to all passengers affected by this unfortunate delay that Ryanair was unable to handle,” said the reply.
Ryanair did not report the arrest of a passenger. The airline also did not report anything on the escort of military aircraft, although Asta Skaisgirytė, the top foreign policy adviser to Lithuanian President Gitan Nausda, confirmed on Sunday that two Belarusian military aircraft: a MiG-29 fighter jet and a Mi-24 helicopter – had been overturned.
According to Lithuanian data, there were 171 passengers on the plane, including 94 Lithuanian citizens, as well as 11 Greeks, nine French, several Belarusians, Poles, Romanians, Germans, Latvians, Russians, as well as citizens of Sacartwell and other countries. .
On Sunday evening, the plane returned from Minsk to Vilnius.
Pavel Latuška, a member of the presidium of the Belarusian Opposition Coordination Council and a former culture minister, said that six people, two Belarusian citizens and four Russians, had not flown from Minsk to Vilnius on a Ryanair plane.
“According to available information, two Belarusian citizens and four Russians did not fly from Minsk to Vilnius,” wrote P. Latuška on his Telegram channel.
The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry summoned the Charge d’Affaires of the Belarusian Embassy in Vilnius and demanded that all passengers from the disembarked liner be released immediately. The leaders of Lithuania and some other EU countries, the European Commission and NATO demanded the same from the regime of Belarusian President Aliaksandr Lukashenko.
In October, Belarus declared NEXTA an “extremist” channel and ordered its blockade.
Last year, the founders of NEXTA included Sciapan Pucil, 22, and R. Protasevičius, 26, on the list of “persons involved in terrorist activities” in Belarus.
Both bloggers living in Poland appear as defendants in a criminal case for the mass unrest in Belarus. Your international search has been published. They are also accused of inciting social hatred against law enforcement officials.
Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Cichanouskaya and NEXTA say Protasevic may face the death penalty in Belarus.
The channels NEXTA and NEXTA Live are important voices in the Belarusian opposition and have helped mobilize protesters during unprecedented demonstrations that rocked the country after last August’s controversial presidential elections. Lukashenko, who has led Belarus since 1994, has won a sixth term. The opposition and Western democracies view the elections as rigged.
