Belarus’ “investigation” into the parents of her son Pratasevičius was shocked

The film also shows excerpts from conversations with R. Pratasevičius, in which he speculates that something has “changed” him.

R. Pratasevičius’s parents are convinced that the recording shown by ONT was filmed at the request of the Belarusian authorities to justify their actions.

In this “investigation”, the television channel supports the official version of the Belarusian authorities, according to which the plane landed due to the announcement of the bomb. The shots with R. Pratasevičius seemed to have been filmed with a secret camera. It is not specified with whom exactly R. Pratasevičius is speaking. It is also unclear whether investigators or lawyers participated.

In one of the shots, the former head of Nexta says that he did not tell anyone about his trip from Athens to Vilnius, and only 40 minutes before the flight, he announced where and how he was flying in his work correspondence. He claims that there was a conflict with one of the participants in this conversation, but R. Pratasevičius does not mention his last name in this video.

“I was involved in a personal conflict with one person, I was quite tense. Especially in the last days. At first there were no conflicts between us, but during the first few drinks, he said there would be problems. We are both strong willed, so problems can arise. Frankly, I still don’t know if this situation is a continuation of this conflict. […] The only time I wrote about how, where and which plane to fly was in a business correspondence 40 minutes before the flight. In essence, this person is also involved. And that’s what happens. He was sitting in a research isolator and had no information. One of the first things I thought about was just getting screwed! I did not say this anywhere else, and as soon as I said it, I immediately found myself in Minsk. Immediately! ”Said R. Pratasevičius.

The former Nexta editor-in-chief claimed he did not know who had photographed him on the bus that had taken him from a Ryanair plane to the airport building after being drained.

In other takes, as stated, R. Pratasevičius says that it is not worth organizing protests in Belarus now. It is difficult to understand from the video in what context he is speaking.

“It just came to our attention then. I mean, it’s basically no secret. I also talked about this with my colleagues. I was talking about abandoning those patterns, that street activity that used to be, if at all. These are the formats that we have used. worked and so on. Because now there is simply no activity. And now it simply cannot be. Once again, while in Vilnius, I openly said that now there was no need for street activities. At the very least, we should wait for the situation of the economy. That is, when the people will leave not one day after the new elections, not against the coercion of the power structures, but when the people will leave, in general terms, by the bowl of the bowl “, R. Pratasevičius said in the video.

The Belarusian opposition has yet to comment on the interrogations of R. Pratasevičius. However, the opposition has said that filmed confessions made last month by his girlfriend, Russian national Sofia Sapega, who was arrested along with Pratasevich, appear to have been forcibly extracted.

Belarus is using forcibly filmed confessions to justify its arrests and to try to dissuade people from supporting the opposition, Reuters reports.

Pratasevičius parents: there are serious doubts

The video shown by the Belarusian state channel ONT, which captures R. Pratasevic, shows “bruises on the hands” and a “blurred” face. Dmitrijus and Natalija Pratasevičiai, the detainee’s parents, reported this on the air from Nastojašeje Vremia.

“I could clearly see the marks left by the handcuffs, the bruises on my hands. Also, in that video, for some reason, all the shots are bright, but when Raman is shown, his face looks blurry, like a little darkened Isn’t it the case that there are still bruises on the face and nose, and there are still signs of strangulation on the neck, which were clearly visible in the previous video, ”Raman’s mother Natalia commented on the images.

The parents of the former editor-in-chief of Nexta are convinced that the recording shown by ONT was filmed at the request of the Belarusian authorities to justify their actions and the forced landing of the plane on May 23, when their son and his Russian girlfriend S. Sapega was taken hostage.

“I have some questions for the creators of this video. Questions about double standards in our judicial system. Tell me, please, what about the secrets of the investigation? If an investigation is carried out, why are those displayed? recordings to the general public? ”asked N. Pratasevič.

He also reported that R. Pratasevičius’s lawyer had to meet with the defendant from Monday to Wednesday, but was not allowed without giving a reason.

“Maybe he was filming the recording during that period? “So far, our demand to allow independent doctors to see Raman has not been met,” said N. Pratasevic.

Presumed confession

Delphi recalls that on May 24, the Telegram channel “Žoltis slivy”, loyal to the Belarusian authorities, A video was published with the opposition journalist R. Pratasevičius detained at the Minsk airport.

“I’m in cell no. 1 Minsk. I can affirm that I do not have any health problems, not even of the heart or other organs. The staff treat me correctly and in accordance with the law. I continue to cooperate in the investigation and give evidence confirming the organization of mass riots in Minsk, “says R. Pratasevičius in the posted video. It is not specified exactly when this video was made.

The journalist’s father said that his son was forced to film a video in which he admitted that he had organized protests against the government, saying that it was clear that he had been subjected to violence.

The journalist’s father, Dmitry Pratasevich, saw the recording at his home in Poland and says he was sure his son was forced to say what he said. “It just came to our knowledge then. It is not his words, it is not the intonation of his speech. He is behaving unnaturally, obviously very nervous. It is very likely that his nose has been broken due to his obvious change in shape, in addition to the many masking officers you see. The left side of his face is obviously wrinkled, it looks like he’s grunting. And not a pack of cigarettes on the table, he didn’t smoke that. I think it was forced. My son can’t confess to organizing a riot massive because he did not do any of that. It is unlikely that he agreed with the prosecutors. I think I was forced to record that message, “said the journalist’s father.

May 23 A Ryanair passenger plane flying from Athens to Vilnius forcibly landed in Minsk, where a Belarusian opposition activist wanted by the Aliaksandr Lukashenko regime was arrested. A Ryanair plane, while in Belarusian airspace and approaching the Lithuanian border, suddenly turned towards Minsk and landed there. The company said the liner had landed when Belarusian air dispatchers reported a possible security threat on the plane.

This information was not confirmed during the inspection of the aircraft. The Belarusian opposition says the plane was forcibly landed to arrest R. Pratasevičius, one of the founders of the Nexta information channel. Along with him, his friend, a Russian citizen and law student at the European Humanities University (EHU) in Vilnius, Sofia Sapega, was arrested in Minsk.

Lukashenko’s press service said on his Telegram that he had ordered the flight to be directed and the airliner to accompany the MiG-29 fighter jet.

The European Union and the United States have condemned the forced landing of the liner in Minsk and demanded the release of Pratasevičius. Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary called the incident a “state sponsored kidnapping.” “It seems that the objective of the agents was to remove the journalist and his traveling companion. We think about the airport [iš lėktuvo] several KGB (Belarusian State Security Committee) agents also disembarked, “he said.

R. Pratasevičius, who started working as an internet activist as a teenager, left Belarus in 2019, when he started working for the influential Telegram correspondence program Nexta, which supports the opposition. Subsequently, R. Pratasevičius became a channel that currently numbers more than 1.2 million. subscriber, editor-in-chief. The channel has been instrumental in mobilizing protesters during the unprecedented demonstrations that have rocked Belarus since last August’s controversial presidential election. Lukashenko, who has led Belarus since 1994, has won a sixth term. The opposition and Western democracies view the elections as rigged.