The Ryanair plane carrying Roman Protasevich lands at Vilnius airport. File photoWASHINGTON, Jan 21 U.S. authorities have filed charges against several officials in Belarus in connection with the incident with the forced landing of a Ryanair aircraft en route from Athens to Vilnius, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a widespread statement. , the US authorities suspect some Belarusian officials of «conspiring to use a false threat of a bomb on board to illegally reroute a passenger flight with American citizens in order to arrest a dissident.» employees of the state security service of Belarus.
"These individuals are charged with conspiracy to commit an act of air piracy, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment and a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison. The maximum possible penalties in this case are set by the US Congress", — indicated in the US Department of Justice.
The defendants, as specified, are at large. «The United States looks forward to working with our foreign partners to hold them accountable,» the U.S. agency said.The Ryanair plane was landed in Minsk on false information, ICAO ICAO decided on January 17 that it had sent out a report on the investigation of the incident with the Ryanair plane to its members and scheduled a discussion of further actions on January 31. On the same day, the ICAO Council will also consider the appeal of Belarus regarding what this state considers illegal restrictions or sanctions that were introduced by other states and the EU. A Ryanair aircraft flying from Athens to Vilnius made an emergency landing at the Minsk airport on May 23, 2021 due to a report of mining, which was subsequently not confirmed. On board was Roman Protasevich, the founder of the telegram channel Nexta, recognized as extremist in Belarus. While checking documents, he was detained. A criminal case has been initiated against Protasevich under several articles, including the article «Organization of mass riots», he faces up to 15 years in prison.
After the incident, European countries said that the Belarusian authorities forced the plane to land under a far-fetched pretext. This was denied in Minsk, arguing that they only recommended landing, and the decision was made by the pilot. After the incident, some airlines began to bypass the airspace of Belarus. The European Union has banned the use of its airspace and airports by the planes of the republic's air carriers.