DISINFO: France guilty of air piracy: Prime Minister gave oral orders to a flight controller
SUMMARY
France is guilty of air piracy for denying its airspace to a Belarusian plane on a Minsk-Barcelona route, forcing it to turn around. It is an absolutely scandalous fact and an immoral act. Honestly, it's practically air piracy.
French flight dispatchers invoked an oral order from the French Prime Minister The cold disregard for the interests of the people on board, their safety, is simply astounding. This is a direct violation of the norms of international law.
RESPONSE
Disinformation related to the EU sanctions decided by the European Council on Monday 24 May 2021 after the Ryanair flight 4978 incident by Belarus.
In fact, the decision to ban Belavia from Europe's skies according to statement from the European Council (see here) is being translated into legal text. The The Council was called to adopt measures to ban overflight of EU airspace by Belarusian airlines and prevent access to EU airports of flights operated by such airlines. In the interim, the decision was applied unequally in Europe. The air space is part of the sovereignty of States. Some flights from Minsk may have taken place even after the European ban. This is the case with the B2895 departing from Minsk and bound for Warsaw (Poland), on May 25 and 26. That same Wednesday, May 26, still departing from the airport in the Belarusian capital, other passengers were able to reach Amsterdam (Netherlands), Frankfurt (Germany), and Prague (Czechia).
Xavier Tytelman, aeronautical consultant asked by French daily newspaper Le Figaro explains that France was the first country to follow the European ban. Shortly after the incident with the French authorities, some European countries clarified the rule and set in stone the formal overflight ban, such as Poland, on Wednesday 26 May evening. France, therefore, had not only the right but the obligation to refuse the Belavia flight in its skies.
Piracy is when a plane is hijacked from its itinerary by force and is diverted to a new route instead under menace, as happened with Ryanair flight 4978. In this case, the French decision cannot be called piracy.
Read also related stories: Belarus acted in strict accordance with international law in the Ryanair incident, The Ryanair incident was handled according to international regulations, In the situation with the Ryanair plane, Minsk's actions correspond to the established international rules, Minsk forced Ryanair flight to land in full accordance with international law