Roman Protasevich, the Belarusian journalist who was imprisoned following the forced landing of an international flight over Belarus last month, claimed on Monday to have renounced his dissident views.
Journalists attending what was framed as a standard press briefing, giving the Belarusian government’s perspective on the May 24 plane diversion, were shocked when the young dissident joined a panel of uniformed officers. He proceeded to denounce his former anti-government views and praise Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
“I understand what kind of damage I have inflicted not only on the state but on the country. Today, I want to do everything to correct this situation,” he told international reporters.
“I am not wearing a taser, and I am not being fed a truth serum,” Protasevich said. “If you don’t believe me — just say it.” He added that he felt “wonderful.”
HEALTH OF ROMAN PROTASEVICH, CAPTIVE JOURNALIST IN BELARUS, IN DOUBT FOLLOWING ‘HOSTAGE VIDEO’
Ever since his detention on May 23, Protasevich has appeared on state TV several times to offer confessions and apologies over his prior activism. However, this appearance is the first time he fully renounced his prior views and expressed open admiration for Lukashenko.
Family members and opposition leaders condemned the appearance as Kafkaesque, Orwellian, and reminiscent of Josef Stalin’s show trials. They maintained that Protasevich’s statements were made under coercion. Upon his appearance on Monday, BBC journalists immediately walked out in protest, saying that he was “clearly under duress.”
The seeming about-face is a major departure from Protasevich’s prior activism. Just a few weeks prior, the young dissident had compared Lukashenko to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
Protasevich, 26, had been active in anti-Lukashenko activism since he was 16, being expelled from his high school for the offense. He was soon forced to leave the country with his family. In exile in Poland, he started the telegram channel NEXTA, which helped organize the 2020-2021 Belarusian protests over alleged fraud in the country’s presidential election.
His activism would come to an abrupt halt on May 23. The Ryanair chief executive, Michael O’Leary, said a Minsk air traffic controller contacted Protasevich’s international Ryanair flight to Lithuania over Belarusian airspace, claiming that a bomb was on board and set to explode over Vilnius, which forced the plane to land at Minsk.
Protasevich and his Russian girlfriend, Sofia Sapega, were detained by Belarusian police upon landing. The incident led to widespread international condemnation and sanctions directed against the Lukashenko regime. The Biden administration is preparing new sanctions against Belarus and has urged Americans not to visit the country.
Critics claim that the supposed bomb threat that caused the plane to make a forced landing was an obvious farce meant to provide a cover to allow Belarusian police to detain Protasevich. The Belarusian government insists that the bomb threat was real, came from Hamas, and originated in Switzerland. Both Hamas and the Swiss government denied these claims. Still, Lukashenko insisted that he had to act to protect Belarus’s people and security, as the bomb threat had taken place over a nuclear power plant.
Pro-Lukashenko Belarusian media claim that Protasevich is a far-right extremist who fought with the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion during the war in eastern Ukraine, and the government has placed him on a list of terrorists — one of only two Belarusian citizens to hold the distinction.
Shortly after his detention, KGB Chairman Ivan Tertel publicly claimed, “It’s undeniable that this individual fully meets the definitions of a terrorist, a mercenary, and a participant in many blood-soaked events perpetrated by the infamous Azov Battalion and the deaths of civilians in southeastern Ukraine.” These claims were used to help justify putting Protasevich on the list of terrorists.
Protasevich fervently denied fighting with the Azov Battalion, claiming that he only observed the Donbass War as a photojournalist.
Lukashenko has been dubbed “Europe’s last dictator” over his authoritarian rule of the former Soviet republic. Protests over what was widely seen as a fraudulent election last year shook the strongman’s rule. Though the protests have been crushed through violent police action, Belarus has found itself increasingly isolated, buoyed solely by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s support.
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Protasevich is one of many opposition leaders who are currently detained by the Belarusian state. Punishments for the unrest last year have been harsh, with at least one opposition figure being sent to a penal colony. The young detainee faces over 10 years in prison due to the crimes of “incitement of public disorder and social hatred.” He is awaiting his trial in a detention facility, as is his girlfriend.
