The health of dissident journalist Roman Protasevich, a frequent critic of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko who was jailed following Sunday’s diversion of a plane bound for Lithuania, remains in question with conflicting accounts of the 26-year-old’s physical state.
“According to his mother, Roman Protasevich is in hospital in critical condition – heart disease,” Tadeusz Giczan, Protasevich’s editor-in-chief, tweeted on Monday.
BELARUS DIVERTS PLANE BOUND FOR LITHUANIA TO FORCE ARREST OF OPPOSITIONAL JOURNALIST
Later on Monday afternoon, a video appeared on NEXTA, Protasevich’s news platform, appearing to show the journalist saying the reports of heart problems were false and he’s being treated well in jail while confessing to crimes that carry a 15-year prison sentence.
Some journalists argued the tape appeared to be a “hostage video,” citing what looked to be a bruise on Protasevich’s forehead as evidence of mistreatment.
Protasevich is a co-founder of an online opposition news service, NEXTA, which Belarus declared was extremist due to its role in helping organize protests against Lukashenko. Among the charges to which he pleaded guilty in the video released by Belarus are inciting public disorder and social hatred due to NEXTA’s role in organizing protests against Belarus’s president.
Last November, Protasevich was charged in absentia with “organizing mass riots and group actions that grossly violate public order,” charges that could bring 15 years in jail, and he is on a government “wanted” list for terrorism, multiple outlets reported.
Protasevich was detained by Belarusian officials Sunday after authorities called in what turned out to be a false bomb threat forcing a Ryanair plane heading to Lithuania to land in Minsk. The plane was diverted just two minutes before it was set to enter Lithuanian airspace, and the plane took off again after several hours in Minsk en route to Vilnius.
The turn of events was widely criticized by the international community as an effort geared toward quieting dissidents. The European Union agreed on Monday to impose sanctions against Belarus, including banning its airlines from using the airspace and airports of the 27-nation bloc, calling the incident a “hijacking,” according to multiple reports.
Gitanas Nauseda, president of Lithuania, called Belarus’s diversion a “state-sponsored terror act” in a tweet. North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called Belarus’s action “a serious & dangerous incident which requires international investigation,” and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, called Belarus’s actions “unacceptable.”
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Protesters have taken to the streets in Belarus since August, when it was announced that Lukashenko had been elected to serve a sixth term, despite independent observers saying the election was rigged in his favor.
Other journalists have been arrested over charges stemming from their coverage of the demonstrations. Katsiaryna Bakhvalava, 27, and Daria Chultsova, 23, journalists for the Polish-funded Belsat TV channel, were convicted in February on charges of “organizing actions rudely violating public order,” which they both denied.
