Belarus: the chilling televised "confessions" of Roman Protassevich
"I admit my guilt in organizing unauthorized massive actions," said Roman Protassevich in the interview broadcast on television on June 3, 2021. © Screenshot
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
In Belarus, state television is broadcasting new images of Roman Protassevich, the young journalist arrested last month after his plane was rerouted in Minsk.
For more than an hour and a half, Roman Protassevich criticizes the Belarusian opposition and claims to regret his past political activities.
An interview considered by his relatives as totally fabricated, the result of physical and psychological violence against the young man.
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From our regional correspondent
,
Daniel Vallot
A dark setting, subdued lighting and a face-to-face meeting between Roman Protassevich and the person asking him questions: on the form, everything looks like a normal interview. At the end of the interview, the young man is in tears and raises his hands to hide his face: we then briefly see the marks of the handcuffs on his wrists.
Only this detail allows us to understand that in reality this face-to-face is not a traditional interview.
Questioned by Agence France-Presse, the father of the young journalist believes for his part that these images, and the confession of his son, are the result of "
violence, torture and threats
".
During the interview, Roman Protassevich not only acknowledges the facts with which he is accused - having fomented political unrest in the summer of 2020, but he also works to criticize the opposition and to braid the praises of
Alexander Lukashenko
, the Belarusian President.
A confession "with a gun to his head"
The Belarusian regime is accustomed to these recordings and confessions obtained under duress.
But he had never until now taken the exercise to this level of sophistication.
Quoted by the Russian site Meduza, Franak Viachorka, one of the advisers of the leader of the opposition in exile
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya
, believes that this interview is a confession obtained "
with a gun to his head
".
In fact, the images of the young journalist in tears under the pseudo-compassionate gaze of Marat Markov - the director of Belarusian public television - are overwhelming: because they say so much more about the terrible pressure exerted by the authorities in recent days. than on the so-called regrets expressed by the young man.
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To read also: Belarus: Roman Protassevich, an arrest that shakes Europe
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Belarus
Alexander Lukashenko
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