The father of captured dissident Roman Protasevich said he looked forced and beaten up in his video confession from Belarus

• Belarus diverted a Ryanair plane on Sunday and arrested a dissident on board.
• Roman Protasevich often criticized Belarus' government and is charged with organizing protests.
• Belarus released a video of Protasevich on Monday. His father said he looked coerced and beaten up.

The father of the detained Belarusian dissident Roman Protasevich says his son looked beaten up and coerced in a new video released by the government.

The younger Protasevich was taken into custody Sunday after a Ryanair plane carrying him to Lithuania from Greece was forced to land in Belarus after the pilots received a fake security report from local authorities.

Protasevich is one of Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko's most vocal critics. He had been living in Poland since 2019 over fears for his safety, and he has continued to criticize Lukashenko from afar. Belarus accused Protasevich of terrorism and provoking riots last year.

On Monday, Belarusian authorities posted a video in which Protasevich acknowledged organizing protests in Minsk last year.

"Right now I continue to cooperate with police and confess to organizing mass protests," Protasevich said, Sky News reported. He also said he was cooperating with authorities and continued to "provide evidence related to the mass rallies in Minsk," according to a translation by Insider.

Protasevich's father, Dzmitry, told Reuters on Tuesday that the statement seemed coerced.

''I think he was forced. It's not his words, it's not his intonation of speech - he is acting very reserved, and you can see he is nervous," he said.

"And it's not his pack of cigarettes on the table - he doesn't smoke these. So I think he was forced."

He added: "My son cannot admit to creating the mass disorders, because he just didn't do any such thing. It's unlikely he went for a deal with prosecutors. I think it's just that he was forced to record the message."

The elder Protasevich went on to say it looked as if his son had been beaten up. "It is very likely that his nose is broken, because the shape of it is changed," he said.

Lukashenko's office said the president personally scrambled a MiG-29 fighter jet to escort the Ryanair plane to the ground on Sunday.

In a Monday statement, Ryanair called the diversion "an act of aviation piracy," and Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary told an Irish radio station that "the intent of the authorities was to remove a journalist."

After the passengers were informed that plane was being diverted to Minsk on Sunday, Protasevich told fellow passengers he was "facing the death penalty," the Lithuanian news site Delfi News reported.

In a video published by The Washington Post, one passenger identified as Mantas said that upon learning of the diversion, Protasevich immediately started destroying his electronic equipment.