- New study reinforces theory Covid emerged at Chinese market
- World Bank boosts climate financing by 10 percent
- Bagnaia eyeing summit on home ground in 100th MotoGP
- 'Something was wrong', defendant in French mass rape tells court
- Hezbollah chief admits 'unprecedented' blow in device blasts
- Sales of US existing homes slip slightly in August
- Fear, panic haunt Lebanese after devices explode
- Labuschagne sparks Australia fightback in England ODI opener
- S.Africa's HIV research power couple says fight goes on
- Why is Israel focusing on border with Lebanon?
- Mpox vaccines administered in Rwanda, first in Africa
- US Fed rate cut is 'very positive sign' for economy: Yellen
- Unknown Mozart string trio discovered in Germany
- 'Are we five-year-olds?' F1 drivers won't mind their language
- Brazil judge orders X to reimpose block or face hefty fine
- Munich to rename stadium street after Beckenbauer
- Champions Italy to face Argentina in Davis Cup Final 8
- The winding, fitful path to weight loss drug Ozempic
- Italians defeat American Magic to reach Louis Vuitton Cup final
- Norris has 'nothing to lose' as he hunts Verstappen in Singapore
- Kyiv 'outraged' at Swiss showing of Russian war film
- French city renames Abbe Pierre square after abuse claims
- Footballer charged after huge cannabis seizure at UK airport
- Vatican recognises Medjugorje shrine, but not Virgin's messages
- Israel bombs Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon after wave of deadly blasts
- Bank of England freezes rate after jumbo US cut
- Playing Nadal is 'kind of a nightmare', says Alcaraz
- Portugal tackles last of deadly northern forest fires
- Ton-up Ashwin lifts India to 339-6 against Bangladesh
- Departing NATO chief warns US against 'isolationism'
- Coming winter 'sternest test yet' for Ukraine energy grid
- Evacuations as tail of Storm Boris floods northeast Italy
- Lebanon's Hezbollah reeling after second wave of deadly blasts
- Taiwan recognises same-sex marriages between Chinese, Taiwanese
- Stock markets rally after jumbo US rate cut
- Gabon's ousted leader Bongo says renouncing politics for good
- Lebanon device blasts: what we know about deadly attacks
- Equity markets rally after jumbo US rate cut
- Late Harrods owner Al-Fayed accused of rape: BBC
- Hong Kong man sentenced 14 months for wearing 'seditious' T-shirt
- Lebanon's Hezbollah in disarray after second wave of deadly blasts
- Equity markets, yen rally after jumbo US rate cut
- Meta and Spotify blast EU decisions on AI
- Hasan takes three as Bangladesh rattle India in first Test
- Two killed during police operation in New Caledonia
- Flood-hit region leaders to meet in Poland to discuss EU aid
- Sri Lanka to vote in first poll since economic collapse
- Hong Kong probe finds Cathay Airbus defect could cause 'extensive' damage
- AI development cannot be left to market whim, UN experts warn
- All Blacks primed for 'hell' of a Wallabies clash
RBGPF | 5.79% | 60.5 | $ | |
NGG | -1.68% | 68.89 | $ | |
RIO | 3.51% | 65.2 | $ | |
JRI | -0.08% | 13.429 | $ | |
GSK | -1.33% | 41.875 | $ | |
SCS | -6.51% | 13.248 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.14% | 25.02 | $ | |
AZN | 1.03% | 79.4 | $ | |
BCC | 4.21% | 143.087 | $ | |
BCE | -0.65% | 35.38 | $ | |
RYCEF | 5.48% | 6.93 | $ | |
RELX | 1.44% | 48.06 | $ | |
BP | 1.55% | 32.94 | $ | |
CMSD | 0.08% | 25 | $ | |
BTI | -0.84% | 37.565 | $ | |
VOD | -1.69% | 10.06 | $ |
US charges Belarus officials with air piracy over Ryanair flight diversion
The US Justice department charged four Belarus officials with air piracy Thursday for last year's forced diversion of a Ryanair flight in order to arrest a dissident on board.
Two top officials of the state air navigation authority and two security officials were accused of conspiracy to commit aircraft piracy for allegedly taking part in a fake bomb scare scheme to force the aircraft to land in Minsk on May 23, 2021, so that the Belarusian government could seize opposition campaigner Roman Protasevich.
The charges, filed in federal court in new York, said Ryanair Flight 4978 from Athens to Vilnius had been carrying more than 100 passengers, including four US citizens, when Belarus authorities concocted the scheme to force it to land.
Two of the four charged, Leonid Mikalaevich Churo and Oleg Kazyuchits, are director general and deputy director general, respectively, of the state aviation authority Belaeronavigatsia.
Two others from the state security services, their names not fully known to the FBI, were also charged.
“The FBI identified a detailed operation that subjected passengers from many countries, including the US, to the realities of terroristic threats," said FBI Assistant Director Michael Driscoll.
"Not only is what took place a reckless violation of US law, it’s extremely dangerous to the safety of everyone who flies in an airplane," he said.
"The next pilot who gets a distress call from a tower may doubt the authenticity of the emergency -- which puts lives at risk."
The diversion operation was led by state security services and succeeded in having Protasevich, 26, a journalist with the Nexta opposition media, and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega, a law student at the European Humanities University in Lithuania, arrested at a Minsk airport.
Both were placed under house arrest to face various charges.
According to the US indictment, Churo and the security officials communicated the ostensible bomb threat to traffic officials at Minsk Air Control Center even before the Ryanair flight took off from Athens, demanding it divert to Minsk.
They waited until the plane entered Belarus air space to alert the aircraft to the purported bomb threat, in order to force it to land in Minsk.
Churo's deputy Kazyuchits then sought to have the incident record falsified to hide the fabricated bomb threat and the involvement of security officials, according to the indictment.
The four, who remain at large in Belarus, all face possible life in prison if they are brought to justice in the United States.
The incident sparked international outrage and has brought punitive sanctions from Europe, Canada, Britain and the United States.
The International Civil Aviation Organization on Monday said it had completed its investigation but would only reveal the conclusions at the end of this month.
C.Kovalenko--BTB