Belarusian journalist Roman Protasevich appears on state TV
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The 26-year-old told Belarusian state TV channel ONT on Thursday that he has “pleaded guilty” to organizing large-scale “unsanctioned protests” following the country’s disputed elections last August.
“I openly admit that I was one of the people who published calls to take to the streets on (August) ninth. As soon as I was presented with the documents and charged, I pleaded guilty immediately, under article 342 of the (Belarusian) Criminal Code, that’s the organization of large-scale unsanctioned protests,” Protasevich said during an interview on the show “Nothing Personal.”
“It’s painful to see ‘confessions’ of Raman Pratasevich. His parents believe he was tortured. This is not Raman I know. This man on Goebbels’ TV is the hostage of the regime, and we must make all possible to release him and the other 460 political prisoners,” Viačorka wrote, using the Belarusian spelling of his name.
Protasevich was also featured in an ONT “investigative documentary” about the Ryanair flight incident, earlier this week. The documentary repeats a claim from Belarusian authorities that they didn’t know Protasevich was onboard the plane when they diverted it.
NEXTA, the Telegram channel that Protasevich co-founded in 2015, found popularity in providing information about violent government crackdowns on election-related protests. After most vocal activists had been detained or exiled, the channel became a reliable source of verified information for protesters to coordinate their moves.
The conciliatory tone of Protasevich’s Thursday’s interview may ring all the more strangely to fellow activists.
At one point, Protasevich tells the interviewer that he respects the President’s refusal to bend to public criticism. “I realized that much of what Alexander Grigoryevich (Lukashenko) was criticized for was an attempt to pressure him. And in many ways he acted like a man with balls of steel despite the pressure,” he said.
Protasevich also breaks down before the camera, crying as he says he never wants to get involved in politics again.
“I have rethought a lot of things for myself. I never want to get involved in politics anymore, in any dirty games and showdowns again. I want to hope that I can correct everything and live an ordinary peaceful life, to have a family, children, stop running away from something,” he said.
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