Abducted Belarus journalist Roman Protasevich makes state TV ‘confession’

Family and opposition say the interview was conducted under duress and accuse Lukashenko regime of ‘torture’

Belarusian journalist Roman Protasevich confesses to organising riots during an interview on state-run television (Screengrab/ONT)

Belarus journalist Roman Protasevich has confessed to plotting anti-government protests in a tearful TV interview that family and activists say was conducted under duress and accused the country’s regime of “torture”.

In a third public appearance just 10 days after the Ryanir plane he was travelling on was forced to land in Minsk, Mr Protasevich recanted previous criticism of president Alexander Lukashenko, instead lavishing praise on the autocrat.

In what made for uncomfortable viewing, the activist said he changed his views about Mr Lukashenko and had begun “to understand that he was doing the right thing and I certainly respect him".

He added: “In many moments, (Lukashenko) acted like a man with balls of steel,” Mr Protasevich said he was speaking by his own free will.

The one-and-a-half hours-long interview was broadcast by state-run television channel ONT on Thursday evening. At the end of the interview, Mr Protasevich began crying and covered his face with his hands.

The interview was immediately condemned by the family of the 26-year-old journalist, activists and opposition groups, who called it an act of “propaganda”.

There was an outcry on social media, with several users expressing concerns that he may have been abused in prison. Images showed marks on Mr Protasevich’s wrists.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko (AP)

His father Dmitry Protasevich said it pained him to watch the interview and claimed he was forced to confess. He added that it was a result of “abuse, torture and threats”.

“I know my son very well and I believe that he would never say such things. They broke him and forced him to say what was needed,” he told AFP.

Franak Viacorka, an adviser to Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya, said in a tweet: “It’s painful to see the ‘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 [efforts] to release him and the other 460 political prisoners.”

Mr Protasevich was co-founder and former editor of the opposition Telegram channels Nexta and Nexta Live. The channel has close to two million subscribers and played a key role in galvanising anti-government protests last year.

Large-scale protests erupted after Mr Lukashenko, who has been in power for 27 years, was returned to power on 9 August in a presidential election which the opposition claimed was riddled with fraud.

Mr Protasevich continued to oppose the regime from outside Belarus but was arrested on 23 May as he flew over the country.

In an audacious move, the passenger plane he was travelling on was intercepted by a Belarus fighter jet and made to perform an emergency landing in Minsk following an alleged bomb threat. The European jetliner was travelling from Greece to Lithuania.

Before releasing the interview, the ONT channel released a trailer of what it said would be an “emotional” spectacle.

Mr Protasevich’s arrest along with his Russian girlfriend Sofia Sapega, 23, who is also being held in Belarus, led to an international outcry with some European leaders calling the forced emergency landing of the plane a “state hijacking”.

The EU is said to be preparing a number of additional sanctions on the Belarus regime. Britain has suspended the air permit for Belarus’ national carrier, Belavia