Polish Prosecutor's Office Announces Results of Its Investigation Into Ryanair's Abrupt Landing in Minsk
40- 10.12.2021, 22:30
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Belarusian special services forced the pilot to land.
The Mazowieckie Department for Combating Organised Crime and Corruption of the Polish National Prosecutor's Office said on December 9 that it had clarified the circumstances of the emergency and unplanned landing of a Ryanair plane in Minsk.
The National Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw said that the Internal Security Agency had conducted an investigation into the incident on 23 May 2021, "consisting of forcing a plane flying from Athens to Vilnius to land at Minsk airport".
"Numerous procedural steps were taken during the investigation, including some passengers and airline representatives were questioned as witnesses, the aircraft was inspected and the recordings were analysed. In the course of the proceedings, a direct witness to the actions at the control tower in Minsk was identified," said the Polish authority.
The Polish National Prosecutor's Office assures that "there was a KGB officer in Minsk control tower on May 23, 2021. He gave instructions to the air traffic controller, who had been in contact with the pilot of the plane".
"It was the officer who decided to divert the plane to Minsk. At the same time, the KGB officer was in regular telephone contact with the person he reported to about the ongoing activities," the Polish Prosecutor's Office claims.
"The investigation conducted by the Mazowiecki Division of the Office for Combating Organised Crime and Corruption of the National Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw found that the plane was not threatened by a bomb," Polish prosecutors believe.
"The pilot received information about such a threat even before the e-mail about the alleged planting of explosives on the plane was sent. Actions at Minsk airport, including emergency services and airport maintenance, also showed the complete absence of the threat. This whole situation was just a pretext to force the pilot to land in Minsk," the Polish Prosecutor's Office is convinced.
