------ ""Belarus Forces Down Plane to Seize Dissident; Europe Sees ‘State Hijacking’" [...] ...The reminder that even people hurtling through the air in passenger jets miles above ground can be affected by the tumultuous geopolitics of Eastern Europe evoked the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was shot down by Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014. The apparently accidental attack killed all 298 passengers and crew, and prompted airlines to avoid flying over eastern Ukraine. [.. my insert there ..] [Apparently an accident? Some background, on Tornado Alley, around here .. F6 Thursday, 07/24/14 05:13:14 AM Maddow exposes hollowness of reporting on MH17 downed over Ukraine .. https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/replies.aspx?msg=104607969 .]" ------
Published 26 February 2020
Map showing where MH17 came down and approximate area of debris App version of map showing last flight of MH17
Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was travelling over conflict-hit Ukraine on 17 July 2014 when it disappeared from radar.
A total of 283 passengers, including 80 children, and 15 crew members were on board.
The plane crashed after being hit by a Russian-made Buk missile over eastern Ukraine, a 15-month investigation by the Dutch Safety Board (DSB) found in October 2015.
In September 2016, an international team of criminal investigators said evidence showed the Buk missile had been brought in from Russian territory and was fired from a field controlled by Russian-backed separatists.
Then, in June 2019, the JIT named four men it alleged were involved in bringing the missile into the area in eastern Ukraine, and charged them with the murders of 298 passengers and crew. It announced that international arrest warrants had been issued. media captionThe suspects were named at a media conference
The suspects, who prosecutors plan to try under Dutch law at a court hearing beginning on 9 March 2020, are:
It's wasn't easy to get more. Still don't have a result, only managed to snag
Downing of flight MH17 Flight MH17 was downed above eastern Ukraine on 17 July 2014. Among the 283 passengers and 15 crew members, who all died, were 196 Dutch citizens. This cannot go unpunished. With support of the international community, the Netherlands is committed to hold those responsible to account. MH17 trial in the Netherlands Courtroom MH17 tile Russian Federation The trial against four suspects before the District Court of The Hague started on 9 March 2020. For summaries of the court's hearings, have a look at this webpage .. https://www.netherlandsandyou.nl/topics/mh17-summaries-of-court-hearings . More - https://www.netherlandsandyou.nl/topics/mh17---homepage
That led to - The trial against four suspects deemed to be responsible for the downing of the MH17 started before the District Court of The Hague on 9 March 2020. Find below summaries of the court's hearings, that take place at the Schiphol Judicial Complex in Badhoevedorp in the Netherlands. More - https://www.netherlandsandyou.nl/topics/mh17-summaries-of-court-hearings
Belarus is where my Russian friend is from. She went to Thailand for 2 weeks and has been there for over a year. She can't get home because of Covid restrictions in Belarus and this and that. Fucqk, it is nice to live in Canada.
""Belarus Forces Down Plane to Seize Dissident; Europe Sees ‘State Hijacking’" "Belarus protests: Minsk still in revolt after week of fear, pride and hope " To Keep Putin Out, Belarus Invites the U.S. and China In""
Not all airlines have been affected, but Air France and Austrian Airlines have been forced to cancel flights.
By Amy Mackinnon, a national security and intelligence reporter at Foreign Policy.
An Air France Boeing 777 is shown at Charles De Gaulle Airport in Roissy, France, on March 28, 2003. Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images
May 27, 2021, 3:59 PM
Russia is upping the ante on the European air wars. At least two European airlines were forced to cancel flights to Russia on Thursday after they were denied permission to enter Russian airspace, as they sought to reroute to avoid flying over Belarus. Airlines are bypassing Belarus after a Ryanair flight was essentially hijacked and forced to land in Minsk on Sunday in a ploy to arrest an opposition journalist who was on board.
On Wednesday, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency urged European carriers to avoid Belarusian airspace over safety concerns. A Belarusian fighter jet was scrambled to accompany the Ryanair flight to Minsk after pilots were falsely warned by Belarusian air traffic controllers that there was a bomb on board.
The Belarusian journalist Roman Protasevich, who has lived in exile since 2019, was taken off the flight following the emergency landing in the Belarusian capital and arrested alongside his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega, as they flew from Athens to Vilnius, Lithuania.
Both Air France and Austrian Airlines said that Russia had yet to approve their requests to amend their flight routes into Russian airspace. A spokesperson for Austrian Airlines said that one flight was canceled on Thursday, but it was unclear whether permission would be granted to prevent future flights from being disrupted. “It is not yet possible to say when a decision will be made for the next flight. Currently, only today’s connection had to be canceled,” they said.
In a statement, Air France said that a flight from Paris to Moscow was canceled on Thursday for “operational reasons linked to the bypassing of Belarusian airspace requiring a new authorization from the Russian authorities.” An Air France flight to Russia was also canceled on Wednesday.
Any prolonged disruption is likely to further dial up tensions between Moscow and the West and test the ability of the EU to remain united in the face of Russian pressure.
“This is classic Russia looking to drive wedges,” said Tim Morrison, who was previously a top advisor on Russia and Europe in former President Donald Trump’s National Security Council.
Morrison said he saw it as no coincidence that airlines from Austria and France had been affected, describing them as the “more pro-Russian” countries in Europe that may be more likely to break ranks. The leaders of both countries have pushed for improved relations between the EU and Russia.
Several European airlines including Lufthansa, Iberia, and KLM have announced that they will no longer fly over Belarusian airspace, but it is unclear whether they will also be impacted. Flight trackers show that a British Airways flight successfully flew from London to Moscow on Wednesday evening, bypassing Belarusian airspace, while Poland’s LOT airline traveled without disruption from Warsaw to Moscow on Thursday evening. At the time of publication, a KLM flight from Amsterdam was not reporting any expected delays to its upcoming flight to Moscow.
Maxim Pyadushkin, managing director of the Russian magazine Air Transport Observer, said he believed the disruption stemmed from the fact that airlines have to agree a new point of entry into Russian airspace if they are to avoid Belarus. “I hope it is a technical issue that can be resolved very quickly,” he said. “I don’ t think that Russia has any reasons to dispute with the EU about Belarussian airspace.”
The Russian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Belarus has long been a close but problematic ally of Russia. Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko is set to travel to Russia on Friday for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The EU announced Monday that it would prepare further economic sanctions over Belarus’s unprecedented decision to ground a civilian flight in pursuit of a government critic.
Protasevich is a co-founder and was the editor in chief of the Nexta channel on the encrypted social networking app Telegram, which played a key role in coordinating anti-government protests last August in the wake of rigged Belarusian presidential elections. Belarusian security services labeled Protasevich a terrorist last year, and he could face the death penalty if convicted of terrorism charges.
Amy Mackinnon is a national security and intelligence reporter at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @ak_mack
Belarus ‘Hijacking’ Opens New Playbook for Autocrats Snatching a dissident off a European Union-flagged carrier headed to another EU country opens a dangerous door. By Amy Mackinnon, a national security and intelligence reporter at Foreign Policy, and Robbie Gramer, a diplomacy and national security reporter at Foreign Policy. https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/05/24/belarus-state-hijacking-eu-plane/
In his third appearance since his Ryanair plane was forced to land in Belarus by the authorities on 23 May, Pratasevich appeared battered, with cuts on his wrists. During the appearance, he claimed that no makeup had been applied to hide marks from torture.
The 26-year-old’s father, Dmitry Pratasevich, said the video was the result of “abuse, torture and threats”. Belarusian activist stabs himself in court Read more
“I know my son very well and I believe that he would never say such things,” he told Agence France-Presse. “They broke him and forced him to say what was needed,” he added, saying it pained him to watch the interview.
Franak Viacorka, an adviser to the Belarus opposition leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, said it was painful to see “confessions” and called Pratasevich a “hostage of the regime”.
VIDEO - 01:18 Belarus video confessions clearly coerced, say family – video report
“It’s become widespread now,” said Valentin Stefanovich of the Viasna human rights centre. “And in a bunch of cases they don’t even hide that people were tortured before giving the confessions.”
In the nearly hour-long appearance, Pratasevich gave remarks inconsistent with his previous political views, praising the Belarusian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, and decrying the opposition under Tsikhanouskaya, saying her movement was being funded by European governments and wealthy Belarusians in exile.
He named other activists whom he said were involved in a protest movement that rocked Belarus following Lukashenko’s disputed reelection last summer. He has ruled the country since 1994.
Pratasevich also teared up when asked if he was concerned about threats of being handed over to Russian-backed forces in east Ukraine, where Lukashenko has said he could face the death penalty. Pratasevich repeated a previous statement, given on camera in a Belarusian police station after his arrest, that he was cooperating with investigators.
Pratasevich’s girlfriend, Sofia Sapega, was arrested with him and is now facing criminal charges after giving an on-camera confession in a Belarusian police station that her relatives have also said was coerced.
European officials have also decried the interview. The UK foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, on Friday said it was filmed “clearly under duress” and that “those involved in the filming, coercion and direction of the interview must be held accountable”.
Ahead of the broadcast, Viasna said Pratasevich must have been coerced into speaking by Belarusian security services because he was facing “unfair, but very serious accusations”.
“Everything Pratasevich will say was said under duress – at the very least psychological duress,” the Viasna head, Ales Bialiatski, told AFP Thursday. “Whatever he is saying now is pure propaganda, under which there is no truthful basis.”
Pratasevich and Sapega, 23, were arrested in Minsk after Belarus scrambled a military jet to divert the Athens-Vilnius Ryanair plane they were travelling on. Belarus regime uses video confessions as a tool to silence dissent Read more
The opposition has also said the video confession made last month by Sapega, a Russian citizen, appeared coerced.
Previously, authorities have said Pratasevich is an extremist who has facilitated violence. They have maintained that television confessions by members of the opposition were made voluntarily.
Recent evidence has shown that the government has piled pressure on opposition members in order to secure confessions in a nearly year-long crackdown on dissent.
Earlier this week, the jailed activist Stsiapan Latypau stabbed himself in the throat with a pen during a court hearing in Minsk .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/01/belarusian-activist-tries-to-stab-himself-in-court . Prior to stabbing himself, Latypau said he had been held in a punitive cell where inmates faced beatings and torture for more than 50 days. He also said investigators had told him to confess or they would arrest his friends and family.
In another case, a teenager being investigated for allegedly “inciting riots”, the most common criminal charge used against protesters, jumped off a 16-storey building, blaming Belarus’s Investigative Committee for putting “moral pressure” on him.
Before his arrest, Pratasevich had given no indication he supported Lukashenko or held the views aired in the interview. After serving as an editor-in-chief of Nexta, a Telegram channel that both broadcast and helped coordinate protests last year, he had remained active in Belarus’s opposition media and last month called Lukashenko a “dictator”.
He was arrested while returning from vacation in Greece following a conference where Tsikhanouskaya addressed European officials.
Western countries and international rights groups have condemned Lukashenko over the forced landing of the aircraft and also imposed sanctions against Belarusian officials over a crackdown on protests following the contested election last year.
Tsikhanouskaya said on Monday she believed Pratasevich had been beaten and tortured in prison.
Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
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