The Hill
Four Belarusian government officials have been charged with conspiracy to commit aircraft piracy after a plane traveling from Athens to Vilnius, Lithuania, was ordered last May to be diverted so that a Belarusian journalist could be arrested, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York announced Thursday.
The four officials — Leonid Mikalaevich Churo, Oleg Kazyuchits, Andrey Anatolievich Lnu and Fnu Lnu — were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit aircraft piracy. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said they are based in Belarus but remain at large.
According to the indictment filed Thursday in Manhattan federal court, a Ryanair Flight on May 23, 2021 — which was carrying four Americans in addition to over 100 others — was ordered to be diverted to Minsk, Belarus.
