The father of the imprisoned opposition journalist Roman Protassevich makes his first comment on the imprisonment of his son in Belarus after the forced landing of the Ryanair plane in Minsk. He believed that in a video posted online, his son was forced to admit guilt through the use of force. “It's possible his nose is broken because it's shape is different and there is a lot of makeup powder on it. The whole left side of his face is powdered, ”said Dmitry Protassevich in an interview with Reuters on Monday.
“It's not his words, it's not the way he speaks.
He is very reserved and you can see that he is nervous. ”And it is not his pack of cigarettes on the table -“ He does not smoke it. ”Therefore, he thinks that his son has to say that he has the protests in Belarus incited, forced.
"My son cannot admit that he caused the mass unrest because he just didn't do that."
The imprisonment of his son is an act of retaliation and is supposed to show government critics: "Look what we are able to do."
Doubts about the state of health
The Belarusian Interior Ministry announced that Protassevich was in custody and had not complained about health problems.
Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski told private broadcaster TVN24 that his government had heard from the inmate's mother, who lived in Poland, that he was in poor health, but did not provide any details.
Protassevich lived in exile before his arrest.
His social media channel has been one of the last remaining independent sources of Belarus news since the mass suppression of dissidents last year.
The heads of state and government of the EU decided on further sanctions against Belarus on Monday and demanded the immediate release of the government critic and his companion Sofia Sapega.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen emphasized that the Belarusian authorities were responsible for the health of both of them.
In addition, the International Organization for Civil Aviation should investigate the incident in which Belarus ordered a Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania to land in Minsk on Sunday.
US President Joe Biden condemned Belarus for the crackdown.
He asked his advisors to show him options to hold those responsible to account.