The United Nations chief has said that the grounding of the Bolivian president’s plane in Vienna on suspicion that NSA leaker Edward Snowden was aboard was “unfortunate”.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said on Tuesday that “it was important to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future.”
“A head of state and his or her aircraft enjoy immunity and inviolability.”
Snowden is believed to be still at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport where he landed on June 23 after fleeing Hong Kong.
Some European countries refused to allow Bolivian President Evo Morales to fly through their airspace on his way home from Moscow on July 2 because of suspicions that Snowden had boarded his plane.
Ban spoke after meeting the ambassadors of Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Venezuela to hear their concerns.
Bolivia has accused Spain, France, Portugal and Italy of closing their skies to President Evo Morales’ plane last week after being told it was carrying the former US spy agency contractor from Moscow to Bolivia, and demanded to know who gave them that information.
Spain has acknowledged on Tuesday that a US request had led it to delay approving an overflight by Bolivia’s president, but said it had given the go-ahead after receiving an assurance from Bolivia that US fugitive Edward Snowden was not on the plane.
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