Belarus opposition leader reacts to Pratasevich video
June 4, 2021
Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told members of the media on Friday in Warsaw that the detained blogger Raman Pratasevich was tortured by the Belarusian authorities into making his latest video confession statement, which aired Wednesday night.
"All such videos are done under pressure," Tsikhanouskaya told reporters. She noted the aim of all political prisoners was to survive and that "through using violence you can make a person say whatever you want."
What video is Tsikhanouskaya referring to?
Tsikhanouskaya urged the international community to disregard all contents from the 90-minute "confession" Raman Pratasevich gave that aired on Belarusian state TV channel ONT on Wednesday night.
In the video, he makes various accusations against other opposition figures in an uneven voice and professes admiration for Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko.
Anna Krasulina, a spokeswoman for Tsikhanouskaya, told AP Pratasevich should be considered a hostage. "He made his statements under tough physical and psychological pressure and, possibly, under drugs,'' she said.
Natalia Pratasevich, 46, the mother of the detained blogger who lives in Poland, told German news agency dpa, "I can't even imagine the torture methods — both psychological and physical — that my son is being subjected to at the moment," adding, "You probably can't suffer a greater torture as a mother."
How have European officials reacted?
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert called the coerced statements of Pratasevich that aired on Belarus state television "disgraceful and implausible".
"That is shameful for the broadcaster which aired it and for the Belarusian leadership, which once again displays its complete disregard for democracy and — really, you have to say this — its disregard for humanity," Seibert said.
British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab likewise condemned the video and used Twitter to call for accountability for those responsible.
How is the EU reacting to the ongoing situation in Belarus?
On Friday, the EU made a definitive move to bar Belavia, the Belarus state flag carrier, from European airports and ban European airlines from flying over Belarus.
The new rules are set to go into effect at midnight Friday, provided there are no objections from member states. Three diplomats told Reuters none were expected.
Eurocontrol, the European air traffic control agency, notes 400 civilian planes a day would typically fly over Belarus, including 300 overflights of which 100 are operated by EU or British airlines.
Several European carriers already announced they would no longer fly over Belarus, including AirBaltic, Air France, Finnair, LOT Polish, Lufthansa and Scandinavian carrier SAS.
The decisive action from the EU comes less than two weeks after the Belarusian government used the pretext of a bomb threat to scramble a MiG jet and divert a Vilnius-bound Ryanair flight from Athens to detain the blogger and his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega.
ar/msh (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)