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Ramanas Pratasevičius, founder of the Nexta channel, Ramanas Pratasevičius, lawyer, and Gimoutas Bartkus, lawyer, spoke on the Lietuvos Rytas television program “Nauja diena” about the serious incident that occurred on Sunday when a plane that was supposed to land in Vilnius was forced to Minsk, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Žygimantas Pavilionis.
Bilateral agreements should be reviewed
The lawyer, former Minister of Justice Gintautas Bartkus, considered that such serious violations of international law as those committed by Belarus on Sunday are rare, so this incident is extraordinary and very worrying.
“If we look at the past stories, we will hardly find arrogant cases that violate the fundamental principles of international law and international aviation law. Here we have a case where the plane flew in the corridor dedicated to him, he had all the permits and here They tell him to fly somewhere else, “said G. Bartkus.
“It just came to our attention then. <...> Importantly, this case was not an illegal airspace violation. Even when it comes to cases of illegal collision with a course deviation, even in those cases, most states recognize that force cannot be applied.
The Chicago Convention also added that a state can require an aircraft to land at a particular airport from its own point of view only if it has flown without permission. In this case, in addition to that political part, we could also talk about applying to ICAO, and also demand an investigation, sanctions for such actions ”, added the lawyer.
According to him, this event revealed another problem: how much Lithuania can trust in Belarus in general. According to G.Bartkus, international agreements and obligations that bind Lithuania to this country should also be evaluated.
This raises a number of other issues: we have concluded a legal cooperation agreement between Lithuania and Belarus, in which it appears that we are committed to complying with the instructions and requests of their institutions, including the KGB itself.
Perhaps it is time to see if we really have a basis to comply with such requests, or if we really should not discuss our relationship with the state, which we can hardly call a state governed by the rule of law, the Belarusian courts, or accept their arguments by cash.
There are many doubts, and this incident makes us all think about what to do with those states ”, considered the lawyer.
He noted that Belarus has not acceded to many international agreements at all.
In this case, it is part of the Chicago Convention, but there are no other conventions that guarantee aviation security, human rights treaties. We have the kind of neighbor we have and unfortunately we have to think about our relationship with him, ”said G. Bartkus.
Compared to acts of war
The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Seimas Žygimantas Pavilionis stated that Russia and other autocratic states are already getting used to such crimes, but the response must be extremely strict.
“If we do not react at least as we suggest, as proposed by the Foreign Minister and our Prime Minister, if we stand alone, then it must be understood that the next time those attacks will be even more brutal, planes may be hijacked over Russia’s territory, to undergo operations that will end particularly sadly.
A young man who has just spread a free word can be sentenced to death, he can be tortured right now, ”said Ž.Pavilionis.
He noted that this issue should also be raised at Interpol.
“These criminal states use the civilized instruments that normal states created after World War II to carry out terrorism in order to continue committing similar crimes that were committed during the war. Because this is a war against all of us ”, said the parliamentarian.
According to him, Lithuania is currently at the forefront of the fight for freedom, and the help of the United States would be very useful for that.
“I am very hopeful that the United States will bring the issue of Belarus to the fore. <...> “I think President Joe Biden could become President Reagan of Belarus, and since Reagan once fought for the freedom of the Baltic countries, he would confront Mr. Putin in all seriousness, because he really knew about this operation,” Pavilionis added.
