Former MP Roman Protasevich confirms he works for Belarusian intelligence
1 November 15:09
Former activist and co-founder of the opposition Belarusian Telegram channel Nexta Roman Protasevich confirmed that he is indeed an intelligence officer of Belarus.
He stated this in comments to the Russian news agency TASS and the Belarusian newspaper Zerkalo.
Protasevich confirmed the words of President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, who is not recognized by a number of countries. But he declined to comment further.
“My comment will be short: yes, I can confirm this information, but that’s all I can say for now,” he said.
Statement by Alexander Lukashenko
As BelTA previously reported, on October 31, during a working visit to Vitebsk region, Lukashenka said that Protasevich, who was recognized as a “terrorist” by the Belarusian authorities during the mass protests in the country in 2020, now works for the intelligence service.
He recalled the forced landing of an Athens-Vilnius Ryanair flight in Minsk with Protasevich on board in 2021, which led to sanctions against Belarusian airline Belavia, noting that he was “an employee of our intelligence.”
“Did we have to detain him? But the question is: why did they fly to Vilnius, didn’t land there, but turned around and flew to Minsk, landed after receiving a call that they had some explosives on board? Well, you were flying to Vilnius, you were over Vilnius, so land. We turned around and flew to Minsk. We landed in Minsk. I said: “Well, carry out the operation, he was working undercover for these fugitives. Carry out the operation properly,” Lukashenka said.
The leader of Belarus said that he should not have been detained. According to Lukashenka, Protasevich, when he arrived in Greece, allegedly reported to the intelligence officers “everything that interested us, received the task and flew back.”
“We were accused of detaining an oppositionist. But he is not our oppositionist. We did not detain an oppositionist. We just imposed sanctions,” he said.
Roman Protasevich’s arrest and release in Belarus
on May 23, 2021, the founder of the Belarusian opposition Telegram channel Nexta, Roman Protasevich, and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega were flying from Athens to Vilnius. As the ship was transiting through Belarusian airspace, Belarusian air traffic control reported that they had received a threat to blow up the plane and forced it to land in Minsk.
Almost a day after his detention, the Belarusian Interior Ministry announced that Protasevich was being held in SIZO-1 in Minsk. They assured him that he “has no health complaints”. The statement was a response to his mother’s report that Protasevich had heart problems.
He was later placed under house arrest after several television interviews in which he repented of his opposition activities. The Belarusian opposition and Protasevich’s relatives claimed that he made these statements involuntarily.
In May 2022, a court in Hrodna sentenced Protasevich’s girlfriend, Russian Sofia Sapega, to six years in prison.
on May 3, 2023, the Minsk Regional Court sentenced Protasevich to 8 years in prison. He was found guilty of organizing mass riots, public calls for terrorist acts, leading an extremist group, slandering and insulting the president, and other crimes. On May 22 of the same year, Lukashenka pardoned Protasevich.
