Til URU
–
henvendelsen er modtaget 24/5-21 fra vores EU-kontor som blevet bedt om at
videreformidle dette brev til de relevante udvalgsformænd i Folketinget. Brevet fra formændene for
udenrigsudvalg i 8 nationale parlamenter fordømmer den voldelige trussel mod et civilt fly i Belarus
luftrum søndag. Brevet er underskrevet udvalgsformænd fra parlamenter i følgende lande:
Tyskland, Letland, Litauen, Polen, Tjekkiet, UK, Irland og USA. Brevet opfordrer EU og NATO-
lande til at indføre sanktioner mod regimet i Belarus.
Emne:
A statement by eight FAC Chairs re the Interception of a civilian Ryanair flight over Belarusian
territory flying on a route between two NATO and EU countries
Prioritet:
Høj
Dear Colleagues, good morning,
I forward to you a statement by eight Chairs of Foreign Affairs Committees of respective
parliaments condemning unequivocally the threat of violence used against a civilian aircraft in the
skies over Belarus, following an unprecedented event on Sunday when a fighter aircraft intercepted
a civilian Ryanair flight over Belarusian territory flying from Athens to Vilnius - on a route between
two NATO and EU countries.
Please kindly forward this statement to the Chairs of respective Committees in your parliaments.
Just briefly to describe for you the situation according the media reports: the plane was diverted
from its route by two military aircraft almost at the Lithuanian border and had to land in Minsk. All
the passengers were forced out and searched with no much explanation, referring to "an incident"
on a plane. Yet the passengers witnessed no incident. Some passengers witnessed how Belarusian
special forces took away two people - Roman Pratasevich and his friend Sofia Sapega. R.
Pratasevich is a young activist and blogger of the Belarusian opposition, the founder of the
information channel Nexta, and S. Sapega is a student in Vilnius with Russian nationality. R.
Pratasevich resides in Lithuania with a visa.
According to Lithuanian data, there were 171 passengers on the plane, including 94 Lithuanian
citizens, as well as eleven Greeks, nine French people, several Belarusians, people from Poland,
Romania, Germany, Latvia, Russia, Georgia and other countries. They had to wait for seven hours
till the plane was released and could reach its destination in Vilnius. When the plane landed in
Vilnius R. Pratasevich and his friend were not on the plane, as well as four other people.
The President of Lithuania will raise this issue at the special meeting of the European Council
starting today.
Kind regards,