The husband of the main opponent of dictator Alexander Lukashenko was sentenced to eighteen years in prison on Tuesday, December 14. 43-year-old Sergei Tikhanovsky tried to run for the presidential election in August 2020.
Convicted of “organizing massive disturbances”, “inciting social hatred”, “obstructing the work of the Central Election Commission” and “organizing actions seriously disturbing public order” by the Belarusian court, the blogger was imprisoned in a strict regime penal colony. His wife, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, herself pursued by power, fled the country. She is currently in Lithuania.
Sergei Tikhanovsky is not the only opponent to have been arrested. Along with him, five other people, including Artiom Sakov, the former operator of his YouTube channel, were sentenced to prison. The penalties? Fourteen to sixteen years of penal colony.
Svetlana Tikhanovska spoke in a video posted on her Telegram channel. “I will continue to defend the man I love and who has become a leader for millions of Belarusians. I will try to do everything that may seem very difficult, if not impossible, to bring the moment when we will meet in the new Belarus, ”she insisted.
The blogger had tried to run for the presidential election in 2020. It was through his YouTube channel and his blog that he gave hope and a new lease of life to Belarusians subjected to the Lukashenko yoke. He was followed by millions of people and was arrested before he could even come up with his political agenda. This is not the first time that an opponent of the regime has been sentenced to prison. In July 2021, another former presidential candidate, Viktor Babariko, was sentenced to fourteen years in prison. Same story for Maria Kolesnikova, who took eleven years.
