EU slaps overflight ban on Belarus
BRUSSELS — The European Union has slapped a ban on the overflight of the 27-nation bloc’s airspace and the use of its airports by Belarus airlines, in the wake of Minsk’s decision to divert a Ryanair passenger plane to arrest a dissident journalist last month.
EU headquarters said in a statement Friday that 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.”
Belarus’ international isolation has deepened since the May 23 incident, in which Belarusian flight controllers told the crew of a Ryanair jet of an alleged bomb threat. They also instructed the crew to land in Minsk, where journalist Raman Pratasevich was pulled off the plane by authorities.
Meanwhile, the Belarusian opposition said Friday that Pratasevich 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, Pratasevich repented for his opposition activities and said he respects Belarusian 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-year-old reacted with anger, accusing authorities of forcing 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.”
Tsikhanouskaya said earlier during a visit to Poland that Pratasevich and others speaking in videos from prison “are for sure being tortured and violated.”
Her spokeswoman, Anna Krasulina, said 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,” Krasulina told the AP. “Lukashenko is an international terrorist who must be stopped.”
Speaking in a trembling voice and looking nervous in the program on the state-controlled ONT channel, Pratasevich said opposition leaders were pondering plans for a forceful government overthrow and were feuding over how to divide funds given to them by Poland and Lithuania.
Pratasevich, who ran a popular channel on the Telegram messaging app that helped organize months of demonstrations against Lukashenko, also offered repentance for his action and said he pleaded guilty to organizing mass disturbances. The charges carry a 15-year prison sentence.
Pratasevich said he fears he could face a death sentence on charges linked to his being part of a volunteer battalion that fought Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. He pleaded with 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 Lukashenko will “feel pain” if Belarus allows the separatists to interrogate Pratasevich.