On Thursday, Belarusian state television released a video that appears to show a confession by the journalist and dissident. Roman Protasevich, arrested in Minsk on 23 May following the Ryanair flight Athens-Vilnius hijacked ordered by the authoritarian Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko. In the video Protasevich says he has organized illegal anti-government protests and praises Lukashenko: according to the journalist’s family, and according to many observers, the “confession” was not spontaneous, but forced by the Belarusian regime.
Can you see the make up covering the bruises? And that he’s trying not to cry? https://t.co/Tnv3zhuC2Q
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) June 4, 2021
Among other things, in the video Protasevich says he tried to overthrow the regime, and adds that “he began to understand that he [Lukashenko] he is doing the right thing “; he also says to respect the president “without any doubt“. At the end of the interview he starts crying and adds that he hopes that one day he will be able to get married and have a family.
The video seemed very similar to many others released by authoritarian regimes with dissidents and opponents as protagonists forced to make public confessions of crimes never committed. Furthermore, in the Protasevich case, there seems to be no doubt that the confession was forced, due to the personal history of the journalist and his activities in more recent years.
Protasevich is 26 years old and one of the founders of Nexta Live, a Telegram channel that has become essential for the circulation of free information in Belarus; like many journalists, intellectuals and political opponents, from 2019 he lived abroad – in Lithuania – to escape the repression of the regime. Last fall he was accused by the regime of “acts of terrorism” for having helped through Nexta to make possible huge protests against Lukashenko, who in turn had been accused of manipulating the elections last August to obtain the sixth consecutive presidential term. If he is found guilty of the charges against him, he could spend up to 15 years in prison; Belarus is the only state in Europe that still admits the death penalty, including for crimes related to terrorism.
It was the third time that Protasevich had appeared on state television after his arrest: in another interview he had said that it was useless for the opposition to organize other anti-government demonstrations. Among other things, the person who interviewed him on Thursday is not a professional TV host, but Marat Markov, the head of the channel. Have of Belarusian state television, as well as a former member of Lukashenko’s administration.
– Read also: The incredible story of Ryanair’s flight made it deviate from the Belarusian regime
–
