Detained Belarusian journalist Roman Protasevich said today that he had not changed his political views and was in good health, TASS and Reuters reported.
“I have not changed my political views, I can honestly and openly say in front of all the cameras that I will not be a political supporter of the President (of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko). That’s right. Yes, I sincerely respect him as a man who manages to resist “All this pressure, which started in the summer and continues until now. But I will not be a supporter of the president,” Protasevich told a news conference in Minsk.
He said he had not made a deal with the investigation. In his words, “everything was voluntary” and no one coerced him.
Protasevic said he had not been beaten, although the opposition said he had reappeared in public under duress. At the press conference, he sat with four employees, two of whom were in uniform.
“Everything is fine with me. No one has beaten me, no one has touched me,” he said. “I understand the damage I have caused not only to the state but also to the country. Now I want to do my best to rectify this situation,” said Protasevic, who was arrested last month after a Ryanair passenger plane. was forced to land in Minsk.
He has appeared in public several times since his arrest. The journalist admitted that he had taken part in conspiracies to overthrow Lukashenko by organizing riots and denied earlier criticism of the Belarusian president.
“This is not a press conference, but a scene from either Kafka or Orwell,” Franak Vyachorka, an adviser to exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovska, said on Twitter.
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