A court in Warsaw ordered the arrest of all the suspects on Thursday.
„The evidence suggests that, by falsely reporting the explosive device and demanding the immediate landing of the plane at the Minsk airport, the Belarusian special services were carrying out a demonstrative mission to detain opposition activist Roman Protasevich, who was aboard the plane, and to intimidate those opposed to the Belarusian regime and other individuals,“ the Prosecutor’s Office said Friday.
At the time of the incident, the three Belarusian nationals held high-ranking positions in state security and air navigation. Polish prosecutors charged them with unlawful deprivation of liberty by acts of a terrorist nature against 132 passengers and crew members of the plane, who were citizens of different countries, in an attempt to intimidate those opposed to the Belarusian regime and other individuals.
The Prosecutor’s Offices of Lithuania and Poland are cooperating in a joint investigation team coordinated by Eurojust.
On 23 May 2021, the Ryanair plane that was registered in Poland was flying from Athens to Vilnius before it was forced to change course over a fake bomb threat and land in Minsk, where Belarusian officers arrested blogger Protasevich and his then girlfriend Sofia Sapega. Other passengers were held for several hours in an airport area guarded by armed officers. After almost eight hours, the plane was finally allowed to take off and return to Vilnius.