Belarus: Poland requests access to Ryanair’s black boxes

To gain access to the black boxes of the Ryanair aircraft that made an emergency landing in its capital Belarus, Minsk under the pretext of the terrorist threat, Poland demands, as stated on Tuesday (25/5) by the Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Simon Sinkowski, in the Sec.

The Polish Attorney General’s Office yesterday, Monday, ordered a criminal investigation into forced landing made by the aircraft, which is owned by the Polish arm of the Irish low cost airline Ryanair.

“I believe that the office of the Polish attorney general will want to hear the recordings of the black boxes, if they have been preserved. That will be the subject of the investigation. “, the official said as broadcast by the Athenian News Agency.

According to the diplomat, first it is necessary to clarify what was happening in the air, inside the aircraft, to clarify what arguments – literally or not just verbally – forced the pilot of the plane to change course while he had almost reached the Lithuanian border and headed for landing at Minsk.

“The aircraft is currently in Lithuania. I hope that in the next few days our prosecutors will be able to come into direct contact with the evidence and the crew, which is in Vilnius. “The prosecutor’s office is already in contact with the Lithuanian side,” he added.

The Ryanair plane was en route from Athens to Vilnius on Sunday and made an emergency landing in Minsk due to an alleged bomb threat that turned out to be false.

Among the passengers of the flight were Roman Protasevic, a pro-government journalist whom Belarus considers a terrorist. He was arrested at the airport and faces up to 15 years in prison.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Cowney said yesterday that Minsk airport was not the closest and that the plane could have continued its journey.

The Belarusian Ministry of Transport insists that the transcript of the talks between the Belarusian air traffic controllers and the Ryanair pilots shows that there was no pressure on the pilots to decide on a forced landing.