Belarusian activists say Lukashenko is afraid of any manifestation of freedom

On Tuesday in Polish Sejm, Civic Coalition lawmakers organised a press conference at which Belarusian activists spoke. The participants held a white-red-white Belarusian flag and portraits of Belarusian oppositionists.

Co-founder of Nexta channel Stepan Putilo said the detained Roman Protasevich "wanted real changes, he wanted to return to Belarus as soon as possible". "Unfortunately, he did not return the way he would have expected".

According to Putilo, the Belarusian regime "is very scared of any manifestation of freedom". "All political bloggers in Belarus have been arrested. There's not a single independent channel in Belarus. We must fight from here (from Poland), to show the truth. The regime is afraid of this truth. Me and Roman, we we've been wanted even before Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, arrest warrants have been issued already a few days after the election" - the blogger said.

He added that since Sunday he has received "hundreds of threats". "I've read that I'm next in line, that they will shoot me even in Warsaw, that they will kill me."

Aleś Zarembiuk, the chief of the Belarusian House foundation based in Warsaw, said that the Belarusian people "are afraid when their home intercom rings and someone's knocking on the door, thinking their time has come".

"What the Belarusians - Lukashenko's hostages - are going through right now could be compared to Stalinist repressions. Such is the atmosphere in Belarus. The only difference is that Lukashenko is not yet shooting people in the back of their heads" - he added.

Zarembiuk stressed that he expected severe individual and economic sanctions against Belarus. "Not only against Lukashenko, but also Putin, who provides political and economic support for him."

Polish airline LOT will not fly in Belarus airspace and has suspended flights to the capital Minsk, the company's press office said on Tuesday, confirming a report from state-run news agency PAP.

"Due to the situation in Belarus LOT has suspended connections to Minsk and has found alternative routes for flights crossing Belarusian airspace," a representative of the press office told Reuters by telephone.

Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said on Tuesday there was no doubt dissident journalist Roman Protasevich had been tortured, as she called for tougher sanctions against Belarus.

Poland has heard from the mother of Belarusian dissident journalist Roman Protasevich that his health condition is very serious, a Deputy Foreign Minister said on Monday.

"We have received a signal from the mother of Roman Protasevich that his health situation is very serious. That is as much as I can say on that subject," Paweł Jabloński told TVN24.

The father of dissident journalist Roman Protasevich, who was detained in Belarus after his plane was forced to land there, said he believes his son was forced in a video posted online to admit guilt and appeared to have a broken nose.

The Lithuania-based blogger and his female companion, Sofia Sapega, were both taken into custody after Belarus scrambled a warplane to intercept a Ryanair aircraft flying from Athens to Vilnius and divert it to Minsk on Sunday in an action condemned by the European Union and the United States.

Belarus said on Tuesday it had invited European, U.S. and international aviation officials to probe the forced landing of a commercial flight in Minsk.

Appearing on several channels of the Telegram messaging app on Monday, Protasevich, 26, acknowledged playing a role in organising mass disturbances in Minsk last year.

His social media feed from exile has been one of the last remaining independent outlets for news about the country since a mass crackdown on dissent last year.

To his father, Dzmitry Protasevich, the video comments on Monday seemed to be a result of coercion.

"It's likely his nose is broken, because the shape of it has changed and there's a lot of powder on it. All of the left side of his face has powder," the elder Protasevich told Reuters in an interview in Russian late on Monday from Wrocław, Poland, where he and his wife live.

"It's not his words, it's not his intonation of speech. He is acting very reserved and you can see he is nervous," Protasevich said of his son. "And it's not his pack of cigarettes on the table - he doesn't smoke these. So I think he was forced."

The father added: "My son cannot admit to creating the mass disorders, because he just didn't do any such thing."

Belarus' Interior Ministry said Protasevich was being held in jail and had not complained of ill health.

"This is a state hijacking and demonstrates how the regime in Minsk attacks basic democratic rights and cracks down on freedom of expression and independent media," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a video statement, also welcoming European Union sanctions.

"There must be an urgent international investigation. And journalist Roman Protasevich and his companion Sofia Sapega must be immediately released," he said.

The 27 national leaders of the European Union on Monday demanded the immediate release of Protasevich and Sapega, as well as an investigation by the International Civil Aviation Organization into the incident.

They also agreed to impose more sanctions on Belarus, called on their airlines to avoid Belarusian airspace and authorised work to ban Belarusian airlines from European skies and airports, a spokesman said.

The EU, along with the United States, Britain and Canada had already imposed asset freezes and travel bans on almost 90 Belarusian officials, including President Alexander Lukashenko, following an August election that opponents and the West say was a sham.

The president has denied electoral fraud. Since the disputed vote, authorities have rounded up thousands of his opponents, with all major opposition figures now in jail or exile.

"We are surprised that the destiny of one person means a lot, that it is seen as valuable to the European Union," Dzmitry Protasevich said. "This is something that is lost in Belarus."

"I think what happened was an act of revenge, to enlighten others: Look what we can do," he said. "This is total insanity, what is going on" - he said.

Belarus should be cut off from the SWIFT system for cross-border payments, opposition politician Pavel Latushko said, as he called for tougher sanctions against President Alexander Lukashenko's regime after the arrest of Protasevich.

"There could be the disconnection of the SWIFT system," Latushko told Reuters in Warsaw, referring to sanctions he thought should be imposed. "We have set ourselves the goal that the regime should not have funds to finance the apparatus of repression."