Wife of killed pilot: “I hate president of Belarus” (Photo)

The Belarusian authorities haven’t apologized for a killing of pilots of an American hot air balloon.

Jeffrey Gedmin, president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, expressed his view of the situation in Belarus in an article titled Europe’s Last Dictatorship in US Wall Street Journal. Gedmin reminded about a hot air balloon, shot down by Belarusian military at the beginning of Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s presidential term.

It happened on September 12, 1995, near Byaroza town in the Brest region. According to the official version, a Belarusian military helicopter failed to establish connection with the balloon pilot and shot it down. Two Americans, John Stuart-Jervis (68) and Alan Fraenckel (55), were killed. They flied from Switzerland participating in the Gordon Bennett Balloon Race, the competition annually held since 1906. The Belarusian government expressed sorrow for the accident, but neither admitted its guilt nor apologized to the families of the killed pilots.

Caroline Stuart-Jervis from Florida (US), who moved from the UK to the United States in 1968 with her husband, (her husband took the US citizenship, but she still has British one), read the article by Gedmin. Claire Bigg, a RFE/RL corresponded, had a conversation with Caroline.

Caroline and John Stuart-Jervises on their wedding day, 1959

John Stuart-Jervises