Colleague of Jailed Journalist Pratasevich Calls for Sanctions Against Belarus

A Belarusian activist who worked closely with Raman Pratasevich, the opposition figure detained after his Lithuania-bound plane was forcibly grounded in Minsk, on Monday called for stronger action against Belarus' government.

Together with Pratasevich, Stsiapan Putsila co-founded the Telegram messaging app’s Nexta channel, which played a prominent role in helping organize protests against President Alexander Lukashenko.

Nearly 2 million Belarusians in the nation of 9.3 million people have followed the channel, which has been the main conduit for organizing demonstrations and offered advice on how to dodge police cordons.

Belarus authorities have labeled the channel “extremist” and charged Pratasevich in absentia of inciting mass riots and fanning social hatred. He could face 15 years in prison if convicted.

"Raman was very committed to the idea of the liberation of Belarus," said Putsila, who worked on the communication platform with Pratasevich for ten months.

Putsila, who's now based in Poland, added that Pratasevich's detention came as a surprise.

He said Sunday's incident showed the regime had started "doing unthinkable things that are against law and logic."

Putsila went onto urge Western countries to halt diplomatic and economic ties with Belarus and recognize the regime as a terrorist organiation.

"We need to talk about this very loudly and continue the resistance," he said.

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