The Greek authorities have threatened Belarus with a court for the forced landing of a Ryanair plane. This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece Nikos Dendias, informs Euronews.
The Greek Civil Aviation Authority categorically denied reports of a threat on the plane that landed in Minsk. “Totally false, non-existent and completely misleading,” the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) describes in a statement the information released by Athens International Airport or the Greek authorities about the existence of any threat on a Ryanair flight to Belarus.
The legal side of the issue is being studied now, the Greek minister said during a briefing after the introduction of new sanctions by the European Union against 78 people and 8 organizations from Belarus close to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
“We do not forget about the pirate hijacking of the Ryanair plane. And we are in Greece, since the liner departed from Athens to Vilnius, we are considering whether a criminal prosecution of those responsible for this should be initiated, ”- said Dendias in an interview with radio station athina984.gr.
According to him, Athens fully supports the EU sanctions against the official Minsk. “They are not against the economy of Belarus, they are against the Belarusian regime,” stressed the head of the Greek Foreign Ministry.
On Monday it became known that the EU has approved sanctions against the Lukashenka regime. Already on June 21, Ukraine, the USA, Canada, Great Britain and the European Union supported a new package of economic sanctions against the regime of Alexander Lukashenko.
As we reported earlier, on June 14, the Investigative Committee of Belarus held a press conference with the participation of Protasevich… Some of the journalists left in the middle of the event – in their opinion, it is obvious that Roman Protasevich is in the hall “under duress”.
As previously reported, on May 23, the Belarusian authorities resorted to a forced landing of a Ryanair plane flying from Athens to Vilnius, under the pretext of a possible bomb on board. After the landing, activist and opposition journalist Roman Protasevich and his companion Sofia Sapega were arrested. At the same time, shortly before departure, Protasevich announced that he was being followed at the airport of Athens.
The Greek Civil Aviation Authority categorically denied messages about the threat on the plane that landed in Minsk. “Totally false, non-existent and completely misleading,” the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) describes in a statement the information released by Athens International Airport or the Greek authorities about the existence of any threat on a Ryanair flight to Belarus.
On May 24, Belarusian state TV channels broadcast a video recording of the detained opposition journalist Roman Protasevich. On the video, he says that he cooperates with law enforcement agencies and gives confessions. After that, the Belarusian TV channels distributed a video with the interrogation of the girl Protasevich, who was also detained.
Sophia Sapieha, detained together with Belarusian journalist Roman Protasevich, was recognized as a suspect in the case of incitement to hatred. She faces up to 12 years in prison.
During Interview to “Bild”answering a journalist’s question regarding Protasevich, Prime Minister of Greece characterized what happened in the skies of Belarus as an “act of state piracy”.
After the forced landing in Minsk of a Ryanair passenger plane, the US administration announced the resumption of sanctions against nine Belarusian state-owned companies from June 3. But Ukraine was the first to announce sanctions against Belarus, followed by the EU and some other countries of the world.
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