Belarusian dissident journalist and political activist, Roman Protasevich, who was arrested in Minsk, Belarus after being taken off a hijacked RyanAir flight last month, has appeared in a tearful interview on state television, praising Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko and denouncing his fellow political activists.
Mass protests
erupted across Belarus in 2020 after long-time leader Alexander Lukashenko
claimed victory in a 9 August presidential election widely condemned as rigged,
and a crackdown followed.
The protests
have been curbed and opposition leaders have been sent to prison or in exile.
Pratasevich,
26, was editor of the opposition Nexta channel on the Telegram messaging app
until last year and had been living in exile in Lithuania.
The
government put him on a list of "individuals involved in terrorist
activity" last year.
And then last
month after hijacking a commercial flight enroute Lithuania, Belarus government
arrested him.
In a Thursday
night interview, June 3, Pratasevich tearfully confessed to organising
anti-government protests and praised President Alexander Lukashenko.
The
26-year-old told Belarusian state TV channel ONT on Thursday that he has
"pleaded guilty" to organizing large-scale "unsanctioned
protests" following the country's disputed elections last August.
"I
openly admit that I was one of the people who published calls to take to the
streets on (August) ninth. As soon as I was presented with the documents and
charged, I pleaded guilty immediately, under article 342 of the (Belarusian)
Criminal Code, that's the organization of large-scale unsanctioned protests,"
Protasevich said during an interview on the show "Nothing Personal."
Protasevich
admitted to attempting to topple Alexander Lukashenko and said that he was
speaking to the television channel by choice.
He said that he
had criticised President Lukashenko a lot but "began to understand that he
was doing the right thing and I certainly respect him".
Protasevich
also breaks down before the camera, crying as he says he never wants to get
involved in politics again.
"I have
rethought a lot of things for myself. I never want to get involved in politics
anymore, in any dirty games and showdowns again. I want to hope that I can
correct everything and live an ordinary peaceful life, to have a family,
children, stop running away from something," he said.
At the end of
the interview, he burst into tears and said he hoped one day to marry and have
children.
Protasevich's
family say the interview was conducted under duress, his father speaking to AFP
news agency said that it pained him to watch the interview.
"I know
my son very well and I believe that he would never say such things. They broke
him and forced him to say what was needed," he said.
Thursday's
interview was Mr Protasevich's third appearance on state television since he
was detained. In one interview, he said there was no use in the opposition
calling for further street protests.
Protasevich
faces serious charges. In Belarus, the charge of causing mass unrest can be
punished by up to 15 years in jail but terror offences carry higher sentences
and as he was taken off the plane, passengers quoted him saying "I'll get
the death penalty here".
Watch the
interviews below…….
Really
uncomfortable to watch this. A battered Roman Protasevich appears on Belarusian
state TV to praise autocrat Aleksandr Lukashenko, 10 days after the dissident
blogger was taken off the Ryanair flight that was forced to land in Minsk. A
volte-face that’s very hard to believe pic.twitter.com/escJriEtfX
— Matthew
Luxmoore (@mjluxmoore) June 3, 2021
“Poland and
Lithuania have an interest in supporting the protests in Belarus because it
lets them make loud statements with the approval of the collective West,”
Protasevich says, repeating almost verbatim the Lukashenko government line.
pic.twitter.com/OE85yDcaLm
— Matthew
Luxmoore (@mjluxmoore) June 3, 2021
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