Belarus opposition slams TV interview as coerced
Dissident wept, praised president
WARSAW, Poland — The Belarusian opposition said Friday a dissident journalist was coerced to appear in a video on state TV in which he wept and praised the country’s authoritarian ruler, a broadcast sharply criticized by Western officials.
In the 90-minute video broadcast Thursday night, Raman Pratasevich repented for his opposition activities and said he respects Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko as “a man with balls of steel.”
He said he was tired of political activism and only wants to have a family and live a normal life. Then he broke into tears, covering his face with his hands. As he did so, marks left by handcuffs were clearly visible on his wrists.
Associates of the 26-yearold reacted with outrage, accusing authorities of forcing Mr. Pratasevich to confess and disavow the opposition.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the main opposition candidate in Belarus’ presidential election in August 2020, said she would urge the U.S. and the EU to pressure Belarus to release him.
“Raman is a hostage,” she told The Associated Press. “Lukashenko hijacked a passenger plane in order to capture him and subject him to that moral and physical humiliation.”
Ms. Tsikhanouskaya said earlier during a visit to Poland that Mr. Pratasevich and others speaking in videos from prison “are for sure being tortured and violated.”
Her spokeswoman, Anna Krasulina, said Mr. Pratasevich “made his statements under tough physical and psychological pressure and, possibly, under drugs.”
“We demand the immediate release of Raman, who is used by Lukashenko’s regime as a toy and instrument to blackmail Belarus’ democratic forces,” Ms. Krasulina told the AP. “Lukashenko is an international terrorist who must be stopped.”
Mr. Pratasevich was traveling from Greece to Lithuania aboard a Ryanair flight on May 23 when Belarusian flight controllers ordered the pilots to divert to Minsk, citing a bomb threat. No bomb was found, but Mr. Pratasevich and his Russian girlfriend were arrested.
Speaking in a trembling voice and looking nervous in the program on the state-controlled ONT channel, Mr. Pratasevich said opposition leaders were pondering plans for a forceful government overthrow and feuding over how to divide funds given to them by Poland and Lithuania.
Mr. Pratasevich, who ran a popular channel on the Telegram messaging app that helped organize months of demonstrations against Mr. Lukashenko, also offered repentance for his action and said he pleaded guilty to organizing mass disturbances. The charges carry a 15-year prison sentence.
Mr. Pratasevich said he fears he could face a death sentenceon charges linked to his being part of a volunteer battalion that fought Russiabacked separatists in eastern Ukraine. He pleaded with Mr. Lukashenko not to hand him over to separatists who have launched a criminal investigation against him. His colleagues say he was not involved in fighting and was covering the conflict as a journalist.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba warned that Mr. Lukashenko will “feel pain” if Belarus allows the separatists to interrogate Mr. Pratasevich, adding that Kyiv will interpret that as a sign of disrespect of its territorial integrity.
Stsiapan Putsila, who cofounded the Nexta channel with Mr. Pratasevich, told the AP that Mr. Pratasevich likely had been subjected to both “psychological pressure and specially designed drugs.”
“His statements had nothing to do with reality, they are the result of unbearable torture and exploitation of his emotions,” Mr. Putsila said.
Ms. Tsikhanouskaya’s adviser, Franak Viachorka, described Mr. Pratasevich’s TV appearance as a “public humiliation.”
“He was forced to publicly betray his views and his colleagues,” Mr. Viachorka told AP. “He was forced to plead respect for Lukashenko on camera. Their goal was to humiliate, break and trample him. He’s a hostage taken in a terrorist operation of Lukashenko’s regime that hijacked the plane.”
Belarus was rocked by months of protests triggered by Mr. Lukashenko’s re-election to a sixth term in an August vote that was widely seen as fraudulent. He responded to opposition demands to step down with fierce repression. More than 35,000 people have been arrested and thousands beaten, and opposition leaders have been either jailed or forced to leave the country.
The program aired Thursday night marked Mr. Pratasevich’s third appearance on state TV since the May 23 flight diversion and arrest. In a brief video a day later, he confessed to staging mass disturbances. In other remarks shown Wednesday, he said demonstrations against Mr. Lukashenko had fizzled and the opposition should wait for a better moment to revive them. He also said he had been set up by an unidentified associate.
European Union leaders responded to the flight’s diversion by barring Belarusian flag carriers from EU airspace and airports and directing European carriers to avoid Belarus’ airspace. Member countries will “be required to deny permission to land in, take off from or overfly their territories to any aircraft operated by Belarusian air carriers, including as a marketing carrier.”