07th June 2021
Location

Online Seminar via Zoom

Online Seminar via Zoom

Belarus: A Step too Far for International Law?

Monday 7 June 2021 | 4pm (BST)

On Sunday 23 May 2021, Lukashenko’s regime in Belarus forced a Ryanair plane flying between Athens and Vilnius to land in Minsk. The Ryanair flight was escorted down by a fighter jet from the Belarus air force. The target for the operation was Roman Protasevich, journalist and Belarus opposition activist, a passenger on the flight. Along with his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega, he was arrested and the flight continued on its journey to Vilnius.

The forcing down of the Ryanair flight is a global crisis. Can international law resolve that crisis?

On 7 June 2021 at 4pm (BST), leading international lawyers will explore in detail the law governing aviation and public international law more generally. What remedies are available to Roman and Sofia? Can Belarus justify its actions? What can the international community do to hold Belarus to account? Which areas of law are engaged? Has an international crime been committed? Is there a role for the International Court of Justice? What about Belarus’s international human rights obligations? Are they engaged? The Roman and Ryanair crisis is the biggest challenge to public international law since the arrest of General Pinochet, have the actions of Belarus revealed a lacunae in international law?

Speakers include: Prof. Nick Grief (Airspace Tribunal), François Zimeray (former French Ambassador for Human Rights), Max du Plessis (a leading practitioner in the laws of armed conflict & international criminal law. His creative use of public international law has established remedies for victims across the globe), Katia Glod (expert and research analyst on Belarus), Kanstantsin Dzehtsiarou (University of Liverpool) and Natalia Kaliada (Belarus Free Theatre).

Watch the recording below.

Belarus: A Step too Far for International Law?