Belarusian officials charged with aircraft piracy in US Federal Court

Belarusian officials charged with aircraft piracy in US Federal Court
Belarusian officials charged with aircraft piracy in US Federal Court
Avatar of Harry Johnson
Written by Harry Johnson

Senior Belarusian officials conspired to use a false bomb threat to unlawfully divert a passenger flight carrying American citizens in order to arrest Belarusian dissident.

The US Department of Justice has charged four Belarusian government officials with conspiracy to commit air piracy to force a Ryanair passenger aircraft carrying oppositionist Roman Protasevich to land in Minsk.

The indictment was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court – Southern District of New York.

Charges of air piracy were brought against the head of Belaeronavigatsia Leonid Churo, his deputy Oleg Kazyuchits, as well as two KGB (Belarusian Gestapo) officers whose names were not revealed.

The indictment said that the report about a “bomb” on board the Ryanair plane, which was forced to make an emergency landing in Minsk, was deliberately false.

Belarusian Government Officials Charged With Aircraft Piracy For Diverting Ryanair Flight 4978 To Arrest Dissident Journalist In May 2021

Senior Belarusian Officials Conspired to Use a False Bomb Threat to Unlawfully Divert a Passenger Flight Carrying American Citizens in Order to Arrest Belarusian Dissident

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew G. Olsen, Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Assistant Director-in-Charge Michael J. Driscoll of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) New York Office, and Commissioner Keechant Sewell of the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”), announced the filing of a one-count indictment charging LEONID MIKALAEVICH CHURO, the Director General of Belaeronavigatsia Republican Unitary Air Navigation Services Enterprise (“Belaeronavigatsia”), the Belarusian state air navigation authority; OLEG KAZYUCHITS, the Deputy Director General of Belaeronavigatsia; and two officers of the Belarusian state security services, ANDREY ANATOLIEVICH LNU and FNU LNU, with conspiracy to commit aircraft piracy for engineering the diversion of Ryanair Flight 4978 (the “Flight”)—which was carrying four U.S. nationals and more than 100 other passengers on board—while it was in flight over Belarus on May 23, 2021, for the purpose of arresting a dissident Belarusian journalist who was on board the Flight.  The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer.  The defendants are based in Belarus and remain at large. 

About the author

Avatar of Harry Johnson

Harry Johnson

Harry Johnson has been the assignment editor for eTurboNews for mroe than 20 years. He lives in Honolulu, Hawaii, and is originally from Europe. He enjoys writing and covering the news.

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