The dissident Belarusian journalist and opposition activist who was arrested after his airline flight was diverted to Minsk wept Thursday in an interview on state television, saying he was fully cooperating with investigators and declaring that he respects the authoritarian president he opposed for years.
KYIV, Ukraine Raman Pratasevich has been part of the Belarus political opposition for over a decade and has long feared the authorities would try to abduct him, even though he was living abroad. The 26-year-old dissident journalist couldn’t imagine, however, just how far they would go. Pratasevich, who ran a channel on a messaging…
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Raman Pratasevich has been part of the Belarus political opposition for over a decade and has long feared the authorities would try to abduct him, even though he was living abroad. The 26-year-old dissident journalist couldn't imagine, however, just how far they would go. Pratasevich, who ran a channel on a messaging app used to organize demonstrations against the iron-fisted rule of President Alexander Lukashenko, left his.
Raman Pratasevich, who'd fled his country in 2019, was arrested after Belarus scrambled a fighter jet and used a false bomb alert to divert the flight he was on to Minsk.
Last Sunday, Raman Pratasevich was detained by the Belarusian government after his flight was intercepted in Belarusian airspace. Who is Mr. Pratasevich, and why does the authoritarian government see him as such a threat?