ICAO to review of Belarus’ complaint about Chicago Convention violation in Jan 2022

<p> MINSK, Nov 15 - PrimePress. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has postponed till January 2022 the review of Belarus’ complaint regarding the violation of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (also known as the Chicago Convention) resulting from the sanctions imposed against Belarus’ aviation sector following the Ryanair incident in Minsk in May 2021. </p> <p>   </p> <p> Director of the Aviation Department of the Belarusian Transport and Communications Ministry Artyom Sikorsky made a statement to this effect in an interview shown on the Belarusian TV channel ONT on 14 November. </p> <p>   </p> <p> On May 23, a Vilnius-bound Ryanair flight that took off from Athens was forced to make an emergency landing in the Belarusian capital of Minsk after a reported bomb threat. A Mikoyan MiG-29 jet was scrambled to escort the plane into Minsk. The bomb threat came up empty after the aircraft had landed. The Belarusian authorities specified later that Roman Protasevich, wanted in Belarus as a co-founder of the Nexta Telegram channel, which the Belarusian authorities recognized as extremist, had been among the flight’s passengers. He was detained by Belarusian law enforcement agents. Following the incident, the European Union barred Belarusian air companies from operating flights to EU airports and using the European Union’s airspace, and recommended that European air carriers should avoid Belarusian airspace. </p> <p>   </p> <p> “We submitted the complaint and it was supposed to be reviewed on 12 November, however, according to the usual scenario, our Western partners made a protocol virtually overnight, got it approved on their own, removed the complaint from the agenda, and rescheduled it for January,” Sikorsky said. </p> <p>   </p> <p> In his words, the Belarusian side counts on common sense and review of matters of urgent interest. “We hope a final report will be presented and the Belarusian complaint will be reviewed, after which ICAO will take effective measures to lift discriminating sanctions against Belarus,” he said. </p> <p>   </p> <p> Sikorsky told reporters on 3 November that Belarus was poised to file lawsuits to international courts over the lost revenue and losses caused to Belarus’ aviation industry by the sanctions imposed by the European Union. “The losses that are associated with the need to overfly and also the lost profits from the ill-conceived actions of our European partners are monetized. In due course, we will file corresponding lawsuits.” In his words, Belarus’ civil aviation estimates its lost profits at $10 million per month over the European sanctions. </p> <p>   </p> <p> As previously reported, the ICAO Council on 25 Oct 2021 reviewed an intermediate report from the team in charge of investigating how Ryanair’s FR4978 flight happened to land in Minsk on 23 May. “During the discussion about the report it was mentioned that Belarus had provided a large amount of documents, audio and video materials and the investigation team still needs more time to ascertain all the facts. It was also noted they were unsure the team would be able to prepare the final report during the current 224th session and the report might be postponed to the next session – January 2022.” End </p>

2021-11-16

Primepress