They’re not “hostages”. Some of them have even been allowed to stand trial as long as they agreed to plead “guilty”.
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So you go to some banana republic country and they lock you up, with the potential for it being indefinite and there being mistreatment, and the only offer they give you is to plead guilty or rot in jail?
If that’s not hostage, what would you call it? Political dissident maybe?
You’ll be amazed if you investigate how our criminal justice system works.