Cichanoŭskaja demands justice in Ryanair flight diversion following MH17 ruling

November 18, BPN. The Belarusian regime must be brought to justice for hijacking a Ryanair aircraft, Belarusian opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja has tweeted.

She was commenting on the November 17 ruling by a Dutch court, which convicted three men over the downing of a passenger jet, flight MH17, over eastern Ukraine in 2014.

“There can be no impunity for crimes against international aviation – when we board a plane, we must be safe no matter which territory we fly over,” she said.

On May 23, 2021 a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius was forced to land at a Minsk airport. Security officers arrested two passengers, opposition blogger and activist Raman Pratasievič and his girlfriend Sofya Sapega (Safija Sapieha).

EU airlines stopped flying over Belarus after the incident, and Belarusian carriers were barred from entering the bloc’s airspace.

Last July, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council said the Ryanair flight diversion was unlawful as the bomb threat was “deliberately false” and was “communicated to the flight crew upon the instructions of senior government officials of Belarus.”