An international group of prosecutors will begin investigating the case of the Ryanair plane landing in Minsk, Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau said in an interview with the PAP agency.
Poland has opened a criminal case into the landing of the plane on the basis that it belongs to a subsidiary of the low-cost airline Ryanair, registered in Poland.
“Its structure (groups of prosecutors – ed.) will include prosecutors of states whose citizens were passengers of the plane and took a trip from Athens to Vilnius: Poland, Lithuania, Greece and from other countries”, – Rau said.
However, he assessed the Sunday incident as “an act of state terrorism.”
“As a result of the actions of Belarus, there was a violation of international rules for air transportation. In this matter, we can expect turbulence over Europe in the near future”, – the Polish minister said.
In this regard, he spoke in favor of strengthening economic sanctions against Belarus. Rau noted that although there are fears that economic sanctions may hit the Belarusian society, at the current stage it is necessary “not only personal sanctions, but also complex economic sanctions”.
The Ryanair plane flying from Athens to Vilnius on May 23 urgently landed at the Minsk airport due to a message about mining, which was not subsequently confirmed. This plane was flown by Roman Protasevich, the founder of the Nexta Telegram channel, recognized as extremist in Belarus. He was detained while checking documents on previously initiated criminal cases against him under several articles, including the article “organizing mass riots”. He could face up to 15 years in prison.
Following the discussion of Belarus on Monday, EU leaders made a political decision to ban flights of Belarusian aircraft in European airspace, and also recommended European airlines to avoid flying over Belarus. The EU called for new sanctions on Belarus to be adopted as soon as possible in connection with the aircraft incident. Now the decision of the EU leaders needs technical approval at the ministerial level.