on July 26, 2024, 5:25 pm
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/26/german-man-sentenced-to-death-in-belarus-begs-for-help-on-state-tv
German man sentenced to death in Belarus begs for help on state TV
Rico Krieger admits role in Ukrainian plot and pleads for German chancellor to save him during broadcast
A German man sentenced to death in Belarus has appeared on state television in the country, in tears and begging the German government to intervene in his case.
“Mr Scholz, please, I am still alive … it is not yet too late,” said Rico Krieger, who was pictured handcuffed inside a cell, appealing to the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz.
Authorities in Belarus, a dictatorial state where torture and politicised trials are rife, claim that Krieger, 30, travelled to the country last autumn on the orders of Ukrainian intelligence, with the goal of carrying out a terrorist attack on a railway line.
“This was the biggest mistake of my life. I admit my guilt, without a doubt,” said Krieger in a section of the interview where the original German was audible below a Russian-language voiceover translation. At several moments during the 17-minute television programme he broke down crying.
The KGB, as the Belarusian secret service is still known, has a record of falsifying evidence and extracting confessions under torture, casting doubt on the reliability of the claims made in the programme. No supporting evidence for Krieger’s supposed crimes was provided.
According to a LinkedIn profile, Krieger previously worked as a medical worker for the German Red Cross and as a security officer at the US embassy in Berlin. The German Red Cross confirmed he had worked there, and the German daily newspaper Tagesspiegel on Friday quoted a former colleague from the organisation saying Krieger had told them he had been recruited to travel to Ukraine. “We all assumed that he was going as a medic,” said the colleague.
No evidence except him admitting everything of course...
Also has bits about the potential prisoner swap for the Wall St. Journal reporter not a spy in any way honestly guv in Moscow.
...no amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party...So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin.
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