Suspected mastermind absent
Court sentences aircraft saboteurs to long prison terms
October 5, 2024, 1:16 a.m
Belarus is at least indirectly supporting Russia in its invasion of Ukraine. That’s why acts of sabotage happen there again and again. In 2023, a reconnaissance aircraft will be put out of action. Twelve saboteurs received long prison sentences for this. Not everyone will compete.
A court in Belarus has convicted twelve opposition members who are said to be responsible for a sabotage attack on a Russian military aircraft in February 2023. The court in Minsk sentenced the twelve defendants to prison terms of 2 to 25 years because of their involvement in the “terrorist attack,” the public prosecutor’s office said on Friday. Only five convicts are in Belarus; the rest were convicted in absentia.
Among those convicted abroad is the suspected mastermind of the attack, Nikolai Schwets, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was able to leave Belarus in the summer as part of a prisoner exchange with Ukraine. The defendants were accused of, among other things, terrorism, intentional obstruction of an aircraft and treason.
In February 2023, pro-Ukrainian activists said they had destroyed a Russian military aircraft at the airfield in Machulishchi, near the capital Minsk. It was an A-50 reconnaissance aircraft.
The Kremlin had not commented on the incident. Belarus’ leader Alexander Lukashenko initially denied the incident, but later confirmed the attack on an A-50 plane. About the main suspect, Lukashenko said he had Russian and Ukrainian citizenship and was recruited by Ukrainian secret services in 2014.
Belarus is not directly participating in the Russian offensive in Ukraine, but provided its territory to Moscow as a starting point for the attack on the neighboring country a year ago. Since then there have been several acts of sabotage in Belarus, particularly on the railway network.