Belarusian accused of espionage in France says he filmed drones for his son

It became known why a Belarusian suspected of espionage was arrested in France. The grounds for the arrest of the Belarusian in France was a video he had sent to his son.

The arrest of the Belarusian became known on June 19. He was detained near the Delair drone manufacturing plant near Toulouse. Among other things, the facility produces drones for Ukraine. It was reported that the man had been charged with espionage.

Details of the case involving the detention of the 47-year-old Belarusian were described by the publication Le Monde. The Belarusian appears in the case as M.A.

The man said that on June 3 he had accidentally ended up in the industrial zone of the commune of Labège — he was looking for a car repair shop to fix a punctured tyre. The Belarusian saw drones being tested in flight from outside the premises of the facility. He was so impressed that he wanted to film them on video to share with his son.

It was this 55-second clip that became the key piece of evidence for the investigation. The Belarusian sent the video to a Russian phone number belonging to his son. The young man is 20 years old and is studying in Russia.

Technicians at the Delair plant noticed the man filming and asked him to leave. The Belarusian, as he says, calmly complied and did not attempt to flee, as he did not believe he had done anything illegal. He remained in his car nearby for some time and then went to have lunch at a restaurant near the exit of the industrial zone, where he was detained.

In France, the Belarusian made a living by reselling cars. He has two children — one lives in Belarus, the other is studying in Russia. Officially, the man resides in Spain, but has been travelling across various European countries for about a year. Based on this, investigators suspect that he may have rendered similar "services" in other EU states as well.

The Belarusian's lawyer is demanding additional checks.

Prior to the Belarusian's detention, on June 1, several individuals threw Molotov cocktails at the plant building, which did not explode.