Opposition: Belarusian Dissident Forced to Confess on TV

Opposition: Belarusian Dissident Forced to Confess on TV
In this handout file photo released by ONT channel dissident journalist Roman Protasevich smokes a cigarette while speaking in a video from a detention center in Minsk, Belarus on Wednesday, June 2, 2021. ONT channel VIA AP
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WARSAW, Poland—The Belarusian opposition said Friday a dissident journalist was coerced to appear in a video on state TV in which he wept and praised the country’s authoritarian ruler.

In the 90-minute video aired Thursday night, 26-year-old Roman Protasevich repented for his opposition activities and said he respects Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko as “a man with balls of steel.”