US charges Belarus with air piracy in reporter’s arrest

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. prosecutors have charged four Belarusian government officials with aircraft piracy for diverting a Ryanair flight last year to arrest an opposition journalist. The charges in Manhattan federal court were announced Thursday by federal prosecutors. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a release that the defendants corrupted standards followed by countries around the world to keep passenger airplanes safe by using a false bomb threat as an excuse to divert the flight. He says the indictment provides a prompt and public explanation of what actually happened to Flight  4978. Partially in response to the diversion last May, President Joe Biden levied sanctions against Belarus.