Foreign
IN Belarus, state television has shown a long interview with imprisoned government critic Roman Protasevich for the first time, with the opposition and the blogger’s family believing he was made to do the video under duress.
In the interview with the broadcaster ONT, which was aired on Thursday evening, the 26-year-old blogger admitted to having organized protests against strongman ruler Alexander Lukashenko.
At the same time, he said that he admired Lukashenko.
His mother Natalia Protasevich, who lives in Poland, described the interview on Friday as the result of torture in prison.
“I can’t even imagine the torture methods – both psychological and physical – that my son is being subjected to at the moment.
“You probably can’t suffer a greater torture as a mother,” the 46-year-old told dpa.
Protasevich also pointed to her son’s wrists which she said showed dark spots and inflammation.
The blogger’s mother called for independent doctors to be allowed to examine her son.
“They should also do blood analysis of what he is being injected with,” she added.
Protasevich’s lawyer had been denied access to him this week, she said.
Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, referring to the interview, said Protasevich was surely tortured and the international community should not pay heed to such extorted statements.
“All such videos are done under pressure,” Tikhanovskaya said at a press conference in Warsaw on Friday.
“(Through using violence) you can make a person say whatever you want.”
When a person is in a political prison, the aim is to survive:“We don’t have to pay attention” to such statements, the Belarusian opposition leader said.
In the one-and-a-half-hour conversation, Protasevich also made accusations against other members of the Belarusian opposition, sometimes in a trembling voice.
Protasevich’s parents had already expressed the suspicion that their son was being mistreated in prison and forced to make statements.
Lukashenko had forced a passenger plane to reroute and land in Minsk almost a fortnight ago and had Protasevich and his girlfriend arrested.
The incident – involving a Ryanair commercial flight between the two EU capitals of Athens and Vilnius – has intensified the conflict between the former Soviet republic and the West.
The EU and the U.S. imposed new sanctions on Belarus as a result. (dpa/NAN)
– June 04, 2021 @ 13:15 GMT
Tags: Belarusian television shows interview with imprisoned blogger
