A Belarus court sentenced Serguei Tikhanovski, one of the main opponents of dictator Aleksandr Lukachenko, to 18 years in prison on charges of organizing mass protests and inciting social hatred.
According to Belta, the state news agency, another five Tikhanovski supporters were also sentenced on Tuesday (14) to sentences ranging from 14 to 16 years.
Tikhanovski was arrested in May 2020, as he prepared to run against Lukachenko in elections that would take place three months later — the results of which, widely considered rigged, were the trigger for a wave of demonstrations that sent thousands into the streets of Belarus in anti-War. regime.
Barred from running in the election, the blogger was replaced in the campaign by his wife, Svetlana Tikhanovskaia, who became one of the main names in the opposition to Lukachenko’s dictatorship.
A few hours before the announcement of the sentence against her husband, Tikhanovskaya described the entire process as illegal and intolerable. “Commenting on the so-called ‘verdict’, I will only ask myself one question: what do I do with this news? I will continue to defend the person I love, who has become a leader for millions of Belarusians.”
Without giving details, Tikhanovskaya also said, in a statement recorded on video, that he will “try to do something very difficult, perhaps impossible” to bring forward the moment when he will be able to meet her husband in the “new Belarus”.
In a Twitter post, the opponent described the court’s decision as revenge on the Lukachenko regime, but promised action. “The dictator publicly takes revenge on his strongest opponents. The whole world is watching. We will not stop.”
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