(Montreal) The bomb threat that caused the diversion of a Ryanair plane last May to Belarus, which led to the arrest of an opposition journalist, was “deliberately false”, concluded a United Nations agency which could not identify those responsible, but underlined the gray areas of the explanations of the Belarusians.
Posted at 7:41 p.m.
On May 23, 2021, Ryanair flight FR4978 linking Greece to Lithuania was forced to land in Minsk and the Belarusian authorities arrested a dissident journalist, Roman Protassevich, and his partner Sofia Sapega who were on board.
Eight months later, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), headquartered in Montreal, completed its report. Presented last week to the 193 member countries, it will be examined on Monday by the 36 States which sit on its council.
Belarus led by Alexander Lukashenko has always explained that it was due to a bomb threat that the plane was diverted to Minsk.
The ICAO report confirms that as the searches on departure and arrival were unsuccessful, “it is considered that the bomb threat was deliberately false”. But the agency “was unable to attribute the commission of this act of unlawful interference to any individual or state.”
However, the document that dissects this day minute by minute shows that Belarus hid certain information crucial to the investigation and was unable to explain certain inconsistencies.
Regarding the email containing the bomb threat, the agency notes that the timetables provided by the Belarusian authorities are incorrect.
The exchanges, reported by the ICAO, between the Minsk control tower and the pilots of the plane show the incomprehension of the crew and their doubt as to the respect of the procedures in front of the evasive answers of the Belarusian airport.
The report also states that despite the alleged presence of explosives in the aircraft, it took 30 minutes to disembark the passengers and the pilot was allowed to remain on board. And then the search for the alleged bomb inside the plane was superficial and lasted only 18 minutes.
“This report highlights all the inconsistencies in the Belarusian version of the facts,” said the French Foreign Ministry. “The result is that the Belarusian regime orchestrated the hijacking of a civilian plane for the sole purpose of arresting an opposition journalist, Roman Protassevich. »
American justice last week indicted Belarusian government officials accused of this rerouting, an unprecedented legal decision in the midst of tension between the United States and Russia, an ally of Belarus.
Last June, the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada coordinated to put pressure on President Lukashenko with individual sanctions and economic sanctions.