Mid-day drama for Snowden
Vienna, July 3: Bolivian President Evo Morales flew out of Austria on Wednesday after police inspected his jet and found that fugitive US leaker Edward Snowden was not on board in an incident that has sparked a diplomatic row.
Mr Morales lashed out at European countries for denying his jet entry into their airspace overnight, dragging his country into the escalating US spying scandal.
“I am not a delinquent,” Mr Morales told reporters at Vienna airport where his plane was held up for more than 12 hours.
Bolivia’s UN envoy Sacha Llorenti said the country would file a complaint to UN chief Ban Ki-moon over the diversion which he said “violated international law”.
The diversion was an “act of aggression” against Bolivia and tantamount to “kidnapping” Mr Morales, he told reporters in Geneva.
The Austrian interior ministry said airport police carried out a “voluntary inspection” of the jet, confirming Mr Snowden was not on board.
The jet was carrying just five crew and six passengers, it said.
The plane eventually left Vienna around 09.45 GMT after Spain opened its airspace. The jet was on its way to the Spanish Canary Island of Las Palmas for servicing before continuing on to Bolivia. The diversion of the flight, which took off from Moscow, occurred late on Tuesday just hours after Mr Morales said his country would consider giving asylum to Edward Snowden. — AFP Geneva, July 3: Bolivia will file a complaint to UN chief Ban Ki-moon over a move by several European countries to block President Evo Morales’s plane from flying over their airspace, the Latin American nation's envoy said on Wednesday.
“The decisions of these countries have violated international law... We are already making procedures to denounce this to the UN secretary general,” Bolivia’s ambassador to the UN Sacha Llorenti told reporters in Geneva.
Bolivia said France, Spain, Portugal and Italy initially denied Morales's plane overflight rights, over suspicion that fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden was on board.
Mr Morales’s plane has now left Vienna after a stopover of more than 12 hours and was on its way to the Spanish Canary Island of Las Palmas for servicing before continuing on to Bolivia.
Mr Llorenti said the diversion constituted an “act of aggression” against Bolivia, was tantamount to “kidnapping” Morales and may cause “irreparable damage” to diplomatic relations.
“Bolivia not only condemns these acts, but will also take all international legal steps possible so this incident is not overlooked,” Mr Llorenti added. — Agencies