Ryanair hijacking: Polish prosecutors target Belarusian officials

In 2021, a Polish Ryanair plane flying over Belarus was forced to land under the false pretext of a threat. This allowed local authorities to arrest opposition journalist Roman Protasevich. Polish prosecutors will pursue international arrest warrants for Belarusian officials involved in the hijacking. Investigators learned about the case thanks to recordings from Minsk's air traffic controller.

On September 4, the District Court in Warsaw decided to arrest Leonid Churo, the former head of Belarusian air navigation, Yevgeny Tsiganov, the head of the shift at Belarusian air traffic control, and a high-ranking Belarusian KGB officer, reports Gazeta Wyborcza.

The National Prosecutor's Office accused all three of an act of terrorism. The case involves the deceptive seizure of control over the Ryanair plane and the unlawful deprivation of freedom of passengers and crew members. Investigators announced they will issue international arrest warrants for the men. There are also plans to pursue them using an INTERPOL Red Notice.

The Polish investigation concerned events from May 23, 2021, when a Ryanair plane (belonging to its subsidiary Ryanair Sun), flying from Athens to Vilnius, was forced to make an emergency landing at Minsk airport. Belarusian authorities carried out the operation to stop and arrest Belarusian oppositionist Roman Protasevich, who was in Greece with his partner for a short vacation.

When the plane entered Belarusian airspace, the crew was contacted by air traffic controller Oleg. His words are relayed by "Gazeta Wyborcza":

- We have information from security services. You have a bomb on board. It will be activated over Vilnius - said Oleg and instructed to land at Minsk airport.

Later, it turned out that Oleg was ordered to issue such a message by his superiors and a Belarusian KGB officer who appeared in the control tower that day.

Roman Pratasevich quickly realized that it was about him. - Here I face the death penalty - he reportedly told his fellow passengers. The man was an activist and journalist for the Belarusian opposition portal Nexta, which describes the actions of Alexander Lukashenko's regime. He was already being followed at the Athens airport, where someone tried to take a picture of his documents. He was returning from Greece to Vilnius, where he lived after fleeing Belarus.

Polish prosecutors learned about what happened in the control tower from Oleg. He testified that the three men mentioned earlier participated in the plane's takeover, appearing there shortly before the plane entered Belarusian airspace.

Oleg quickly began to suspect that there was no terrorist threat and that the entire operation was about arresting someone on board. That's why he used his phone's dictaphone to record his conversations with superiors. At the same time, he followed their orders and conveyed the fabricated message to the plane's pilot. He would later tell Polish investigators everything, exempting him from prosecution.

According to "Gazeta Wyborcza," the pilot did not immediately comply with the order to land in Minsk. He wanted more information, including about the bomb threat. Finally, after 17 minutes of conversation, he decided to land in Belarus.

When Roman Protasevich realized the operation's goal was his arrest, he tried to delete data from his phone and laptop. He then handed the equipment to his partner on board. However, Belarusian authorities seized the equipment after landing. Both Protasevich and his partner were detained.

After the international investigation began, Belarusian authorities encouraged Oleg to fabricate his report on the control tower's situation. However, Oleg decided to flee the country. Under the pretext of a vacation, he took his family to Georgia.

As reported by "Gazeta Wyborcza," in June 2021, Oleg reached Poland, and in early July, he contacted Polish authorities. He had with him a phone on which he recorded all conversations. "The controller's testimony - along with the recordings - becomes a key piece of evidence in the ABW and National Prosecutor's Office investigation," reports "GW."

After being detained, Roman Protasevich pleaded guilty, was sentenced to 8 years in prison, and then pardoned by Alexander Lukashenko. The same happened to his partner Sofia Sapega, who was sentenced to 6 years in prison.

Already in 2022, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council acknowledged in its report that the evidence presented to it unequivocally indicated that the actions of the Belarusian authorities violated international civil aviation regulations (the Chicago Convention and the Montreal Convention) and that the Belarusian authorities intentionally communicated a false bomb threat to cause the Ryanair plane to land in Minsk, thereby endangering the passengers.

Source: "Gazeta Wyborcza"