European justice authorities have issued arrest warrants for three Belarusian officials for allegedly landing a passenger plane on a false alarm three years ago in order to arrest a Belarusian dissident.
The trio forced an emergency landing in Minsk with a false bomb threat. Subsequently, Belarusian Roman Protasevich, a journalist and activist critical of the Belarusian president, and his girlfriend were arrested.
The couple flew from Greece to Lithuania on a Ryanair flight. The arrests sparked outrage worldwide and Belarus was sanctioned over the incident.
According to the European judicial cooperation Eurojust, the three unlawfully and using terrorist acts deprived the passengers of their liberty by means of this emergency landing.
Belarusian air traffic controllers forced the plane to divert from its route to Vilnius by providing false information about a suspected explosive device, forcing the pilots to make an emergency landing. After the plane landed in Minsk, passengers were evacuated and their luggage was searched.
Investigation into the incident revealed that the arrests of the dissident were the real reason the flight was diverted to Minsk. Immediately after the incident, investigations were launched by the Polish and Lithuanian authorities.
Witnesses said air traffic controllers were informed of the fake bomb threat by their superiors. The controllers were then instructed by Belarusian officials on what action to take and what information to pass on to the plane's pilots.