The father of detained Belarusian opposition blogger and independent journalist Roman Protasevich said Tuesday that a video of his son “confessing” to charges of planning demonstrations had been obtained under duress.

Also Read | Who is Roman Protasevich, the opposition blogger arrested in Belarus?

His father said that his son appeared to be “very nervous” and was speaking in a way that was “unusual for him”. 

The father also said that Protasevich’s teeth seem to be missing.

“It’s clear that he was physically harmed because you can see the signs of a beating on his face,” Dmitry Protasevich told AFP. 

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The father stated that he had spoken with his son on Saturday, the day prior to his arrest when his flight to Vilnius was deliberately diverted to Minsk, where he and his girlfriend were detained by the authorities.

“He would never speak like that. It’s clear that he was reading something out that he was told to read out,” he said.

“We have no news from him. We still don’t know where he is, what his condition is, how he feels,” the father, who lives in Poland, said by telephone.

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On Monday, EU leaders decided to sever Europe’s air ties with Belarus and advised EU-based airlines to avoid flying over its airspace, urging Belarus to release Protasevich and Sofia Sapega.

Protasevich, 26, was arrested after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko directly approved the coercive downing of his Ryanair flight between Greece and Lithuania. Sofia Sapega, his Russian girlfriend, was also apprehended. Their current whereabouts are unknown.