Journalist Roman Protasevich has been beaten and tortured in jail in Belarus, the country’s leading opposition leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, claimed on Monday.
Protasevich, 26, was detained on May 23 after his Ryanair flight was forced into an emergency landing in Minsk in an incident that caused global uproar.
Ms Tsikhanouskaya said a lawyer visited Protasevich and his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega, in jail.
The lawyer said he was fine “but it’s doubtful, because for sure he was tortured, for sure he was beaten", the opposition leader said.
Opposition figures say footage broadcast on state TV, in which Protasevich confessed to organising demonstrations, is evidence he has been tortured.
Protasevich’s family previously said the blogger appeared to have been beaten when he spoke in a video released by Belarusian authorities.
His parents joined a rally in Poland’s capital Warsaw at the weekend, amid global anger over Protasevich’s arrest.
EU anger over Ryanair flight diversion
The flight from Athens to Vilnius was diverted because Belarus claimed there was a bomb threat, which has been dismissed by world powers as a ruse to arrest the journalist.
Belarus’s President Alexander Lukashenko later claimed that the journalist had been plotting a rebellion.
The diversion of the flight was an act of “state piracy”, EU commissioner Thierry Breton told AFP on Monday.
"It is an unacceptable event,” Mr Breton said.
“There has been a hijack, not just of an EU plane with European passengers but a hijack of European values, and that we will not tolerate.”
Europe "has been under attack with this act of state piracy", he said. “We will not leave this unpunished.”
Mr Breton said the EU was working on more sanctions to impose on Belarus, in addition to those placed after a disputed election last year.
Ms Tsikhanouskaya, who left Belarus after the election, discussed possible new sanctions while on a visit to Estonia on Monday.
She accused Mr Lukashenko of taking the country “on a path to self-destruction for the sake of personal power and glory”.
"His regime is now a threat to regional and European security," Ms Tsikhanouskaya said.
Many European countries have told airlines to avoid Belarus’s airspace and banned the country’s carriers from their skies since Protasevich's arrest.
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
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Other must-tries
Tomato and walnut salad
A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.
Badrijani nigvzit
A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.
Pkhali
This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.
The specs: 2017 Dodge Ram 1500 Laramie Longhorn
Price, base / as tested: Dhxxx
Engine: 5.7L V8
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 395hp @ 5,600rpm
Torque: 556Nm @ 3,950rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.7L / 100km
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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Managing the separation process
- Choose your nursery carefully in the first place
- Relax – and hopefully your child will follow suit
- Inform the staff in advance of your child’s likes and dislikes.
- If you need some extra time to talk to the teachers, make an appointment a few days in advance, rather than attempting to chat on your child’s first day
- The longer you stay, the more upset your child will become. As difficult as it is, walk away. Say a proper goodbye and reassure your child that you will be back
- Be patient. Your child might love it one day and hate it the next
- Stick at it. Don’t give up after the first day or week. It takes time for children to settle into a new routine.And, finally, don’t feel guilty.
MATCH INFO
Real Madrid 2
Vinicius Junior (71') Mariano (90 2')
Barcelona 0
The biog
Favourite car: Ferrari
Likes the colour: Black
Best movie: Avatar
Academic qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in media production from the Higher Colleges of Technology and diploma in production from the New York Film Academy
