The Belarusian authorities presented on Monday June 14 the imprisoned journalist Roman Protassevich during a press conference described by the opposition as a "
Kafkaesque scene
" carried out under duress.
Read also: The great fear of Belarusian opponents in exile in Vilnius
On May 23, Roman Protassevich and his Russian companion Sofia Sapega were arrested in Minsk after the hijacking of their airliner which was flying over Belarus, sparking a Western outcry and the ban on European companies to fly over the country. The 26-year-old opponent is the former editor-in-chief of the media Nexta who played a key role in the historic protest against the re-election of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in 2020. Since his arrest, Roman Protassevich has already appeared in two videos where he admitted to crimes, including an interview on a public channel. Each time, the opposition has denounced staging under duress, a practice long used by the Lukashenko regime.
On Monday, the activist was present this time at a press conference by the Belarusian Foreign Ministry during which he claimed to be in excellent health and maintained that no one was abusing him. “
Whatever he says, let's not forget, he's a hostage. And the regime is using him as a trophy,
”reacted on Twitter Franak Viacorka, an adviser to the leader of the opposition in exile, Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa. “
This is not a press conference but a scene taken from Kafka or Orwell,
” added Franak Viacorka.
At the conference, two senior Belarusian officials reaffirmed Minsk's version of the rerouting of the flight, claiming to have received an erroneous signed threat from the Palestinian group Hamas saying that a bomb was on board. Several Western officials, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, found these explanations not credible and believe that it was a subterfuge to stop the opponent.
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