The trio compelled an emergency landing in Minsk through a fake bomb threat. Subsequently, the Belarusian Roman Protasevich, a journalist and activist critical of the Belarusian president, and his girlfriend were arrested.
The couple was flying from Greece to Lithuania on a Ryanair scheduled flight. The arrests caused worldwide outrage, and Belarus was sanctioned due to the incident.
According to the European judicial cooperation agency Eurojust, the three unlawfully deprived the passengers of their freedom using terrorist acts through this emergency landing.
Belarusian air traffic controllers forced the plane off its route to Vilnius by providing false information about a supposed explosive, forcing the pilots to make an emergency landing. After the plane landed in Minsk, passengers were evacuated and their luggage searched.
Investigations into the incident revealed that the arrests of the dissident were the true reason for diverting the flight to Minsk. Immediately after the incident, investigations were initiated by Polish and Lithuanian authorities.
Witnesses said air traffic controllers had been informed by their superiors about the false bomb threat. The air traffic controllers were then instructed by Belarusian officials on what actions to take and what information to relay to the plane's pilots.