Rico Krieger, a German man who’s been sentenced to death in Belarus, has featured in a TV interview on Belorussian national TV, where he confessed guilt and begged for forgiveness.
During the broadcast on July 25, the Belorussian State channel said the confession showed how “the SBU [The Ukrainian Secret Service] turns people into terrorists”.
In the interview, Krieger said he made “the biggest mistake of his life. And probably the last one”.
He was described as a foreign mercenary, connected to the Kastus Kalinouski Regiment, who had said that in case of his death, his family would receive €420,000.
He was connected with possible attacks on industrial infrastructure and railways.
“Krieger is not an accidental victim. He is a deeply motivated criminal. He consciously committed the terrorist act, he paid for his trip to Belarus and all related expenses out of his own pocket, hoping for subsequent compensation from the SBU,” the State media programme claimed.
During the interview, Krieger stated he was asked by the Ukrainians to take photographs of military sites in Belarus in October 2023 and how he placed an explosive device on a railway line near Minsk.
He also said that he met with German diplomats. “They said there is nothing that the German Government can do in this situation,” he said, adding that he felt “totally abandoned”.
“I really hope that [Belarus] President [Alexander] Lukashenko will forgive me and pardon me,” the German national told the TV station.
He was shown handcuffed and behind bars and it was unclear if the interview was done under duress.
International humanitarian law provides that prisoners of war must be protected against public curiosity and media interviews should be limited and carefully controlled to prevent exploitation or humiliation.
The show has been translated to German and English for the international public as well.
Earlier, the International Federation for Human Rights, together with other human rights organisations had called for Belarus to stop the execution of Krieger.
Human rights activist Leanid Sudalenka told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that he believed the death penalty sentence was not coincidental and that Belarusian authorities were counting on using the case to bargain with Germany, noting the lack of the death penalty there.
Unlike what was claimed in the interview, the German foreign ministry said it was in intense negotiations with the Belorussian authorities over the case and that it vehemently opposed the death penalty.
