“Nobody hit me or even touched me with their finger.” The blogger looked relaxed. He laughed several times. At the same time, the activist turned to his parents, who had asked the German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the “Bild” newspaper for help with a release: “Mam, Pap, don’t worry, everything is fine with me.”
Protasewitsch spoke at an appearance organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at which the authorities again presented their point of view on the forced landing of a passenger plane. The young man said that he did not support the ruler Alexander Lukashenko. “I respect him as a person.”
Journalists doubt statements
A journalist said at the press conference that she did not believe Protasevich a word. She was referring to a television interview in which the blogger had admitted in an apparently forced confession that he had organized mass protests against Lukashenko.
Almost three weeks ago, the authorities of the authoritarian country forced a Ryanair passenger plane on its way from Athens to Vilnius with a fighter jet to make a stopover in Minsk. The government critic Protasevich and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega were on board. Both were arrested. The EU then again imposed sanctions on the former Soviet republic.
A court in Minsk, however, dismissed a complaint against Sapega’s detention in camera on Monday, the Russian state agency Tass reported. The lawyers wanted to appeal the decision. They argued that, according to international agreements, Belarus is obliged to ensure that air travelers get to their intended destination. Two criminal proceedings are pending against the Russian citizen. (SDA)