Lithuania’s Prosecutor General’s Office has closed its investigation into the May 23, 2021, forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk, citing an ongoing parallel probe in Poland.
The prosecutor’s office said Thursday that the pre-trial investigation was terminated because Polish authorities are conducting a similar investigation, and both countries agreed that the case will now proceed under Poland’s jurisdiction.
A joint investigation team formed by Lithuania and Poland decided that further efforts to prosecute those responsible for the incident will be concentrated in Poland.
The Lithuanian investigation, launched on the day of the incident, examined allegations of forced disappearance and aircraft hijacking after the Ryanair passenger jet, en route from Athens to Vilnius, was forced to land in Belarus’ capital, Minsk.
Belarusian authorities detained Raman Pratasevich, a Belarusian opposition activist and founder of the Nexta news channel, and his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega, a Russian citizen studying at the European Humanities University in Vilnius.
Lithuanian prosecutors said the decision to close the case followed a review of evidence gathered by the Criminal Police Bureau and compliance with legal provisions prohibiting prosecution or punishment for the same crime in multiple jurisdictions.
Polish prosecutors began their own investigation on May 24, 2021, focusing on the false bomb threat that prompted the emergency landing, as well as the seizure of control of the Polish-registered aircraft and the detention of its passengers.
Lithuania and Poland later exchanged all evidence collected and agreed that criminal proceedings would continue in Poland based on the materials from Lithuania’s probe.
Three Belarusian citizens have been named as suspects in the Polish case, and a court in Warsaw has ordered their detention, prosecutors said.
In Belarus, Sapega was sentenced in May 2022 to six years in prison, while Pratasevich received an eight-year sentence in May 2023 on charges of organising unrest and attempting to seize power. Both were later pardoned by President Alexander Lukashenko – Pratasevich in May 2023 and Sapega in June 2023.
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