| UK Statement of Reasons |
In his position as First Deputy Commander of the Air Force and Air Defence Forces of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus, Andrei Gurtsevich is responsible for the order dispatching military aircraft to intercept passenger flight FR4978 and compel its landing at Minsk airport, without proper justification, on 23 May 2021. In so doing, Gurtsevich acted at the direction of Alexander Lukashenko and in conjunction with the Belarusian aviation authorities. This resulted in the forced redirection of flight FR4978, the detention of the aircraft, its passengers and the crew, and the arrest of opposition journalist and civil society actor Roman Protasevich and Protasevich’s partner Sofia Sapega. This politically-motivated decision was aimed at arresting and detaining opposition journalist Protasevich and Sapega and constitutes a form of repression against civil society and democratic opposition in Belarus. Andrei Gurtsevich is therefore responsible for the repression of civil society and democratic opposition in Belarus and so undermined democracy and the rule of law there. |
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