KYIV ā The dissident Belarusian journalist and his Russian girlfriend who were arrested after being pulled off a flight that was diverted to Minsk have been transferred from jail to house arrest ā a move the countryās exiled opposition leader said Friday was positive but still left them āhostages.ā
Raman Pratasevich, whose messaging app channel was widely used in last yearās massive protests against authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, and girlfriend Sofia Sapega were seized on May 23 when their Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania was forced to land in Minsk because of a reported bomb threat.
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Several world leaders denounced the dramatic gambit as a hijacking, and it prompted another round of Western sanctions on Belarus, where Lukashenko responded to the months of mass protests with a brutal crackdown.
Pratasevich, who faces a potential 15 years in prison, has been seen since his arrest in videos on state television and at a government press briefing expressing regret for his activities. The opposition said he spoke under duress.
Belarusā Investigative Committee said in a statement that Pratasevich and Sapega have been moved to house arrest after they had cooperated with investigators and accepted a pre-trial deal. It said they āagreed to help investigators probe the crimes, expose their accomplices and do everything possible to compensate for the damage that was inflictedā and made āconsistent confessional testimony.ā
Opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya called their move to house arrest āgood newsā but stressed that their situation remains precarious.
āHouse arrest is not freedom, they're still facing charges, their every step is still being watched. It means they're still hostages,ā said Tsikhanouskaya, who left Belarus for Lithuania last year under pressure from the authorities.
She added that her team is in touch with Pratasevich's parents, who āaren't given any information about their son, aren't allowed to talk to him" and are āconvinced that the regime is playing a game, using Raman's and Sofia's lives.ā
She urged the West not to ease its pressure on Lukashenko and keep pushing for the release of all political prisoners and early elections, noting that Western sanctions have been quite powerful.
āWe are really glad that conditions have changed ... but still they are prisoners,ā Tsikhanouskaya told The Associated Press. āThis so-called release after imposing sanctions is a political game.ā
Pratasevich's mother Natalia Pratasevich told Polandās TVN by phone that she has gotten no official word regarding her son or if conditions of his detention have changed. She said a move to house arrest is "likely an improvement in their living conditions. But Iāll repeat, none of the charges against them have been dropped. They remain hostages and captives just like before.ā
Tsikhanouskaya's adviser Franak Viacorka, who spoke to the parents, added that they don't believe authorities plan to free their son. Instead, Viacorka said, the move might be aimed at holding off additional sanctions.
āWe urge the European and the global community not to give in ā everyone needs to be free and not under house arrest,ā he said, adding that Lukashenkoās goal is āto create an illusion of softening and concessions. But this is just one prison replaced with another.ā
Viacorka said Pratasevich's sister has been able to pass on some belongings to him and talk to him. āThe house arrest is not freedom, he lives there with operatives of the KGB, agents who watch him round the clock,ā he said.
Sapega's lawyer, Anton Gashinsky, also confirmed that his client was transferred to house arrest recently, without specifying when. She is now staying in an apartment in Minsk, and her parents met her on Thursday at a restaurant.
Gashinsky wouldn't say whether Pratasevich was also there ā but said Sapega didn't go alone.
Pratasevich's lawyer, Inessa Olenskaya, refused to comment on her client's whereabouts and status, citing a nondisclosure agreement.
Marie Struthers, Amnesty Internationalās Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director, said putting the pair under house arrest ālooks like a cynical ploy by the Belarusian authorities to secure the lifting of international sanctions.ā
The months of mass protests were fueled by Lukashenkoās reelection to a sixth term in an August 2020 vote that was widely seen as rigged. The subsequent crackdown saw more than 35,000 people arrested and thousands beaten by police. Most opposition leaders have been jailed or forced to leave the country.
In the wake of these violations and the flight diversion, the United States, the European Union, Britain and Canada joined forces on Monday to impose sanctions on several top Belarusian officials. The EU also imposed a series of bruising economic sanctions that target key Belarus exports, including potash ā a common fertilizer ingredient ā and petroleum products.
Belarusā Foreign Ministry says the sanctions will hurt ordinary people and āborder on the declaration of an economic war.ā On Friday, the ministry again condemned the sanctions and promised āretaliatory measuresā in the coming weeks. āIt's about time European politicians realized that pressure and sanctions are not a language one should use with Belarus," the statement read.
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Associated Press writer Harriet Morris in Moscow contributed.