Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya was sentenced today in absentia to 15 years imprisonment by a court at Belarusfor “betrayal” and for “conspiracy to seize power”amid a relentless crackdown orchestrated by the president’s regime Alexander Lukashenko.

Reacting immediately to the verdict, Tikhanovskaya said her conviction was a punishment for her efforts to promote democracy.

Tikhanovskaya, 40, fled to neighboring Lithuania from Belarus after running against Lukashenko in the 2020 election. The election was followed by mass protests against Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, which Belarusian security forces violently suppressed , imprisoning opponents of the president or forcing them to flee the country.

Tikhanovskaya and the opposition accused Lukashenko of electoral fraud. The latter, who has ruled the country with an iron fist for almost 30 years, denied these claims.

Authorities indicted the de facto opposition leader in a trial in absentia in January, accusing her and other opposition figures of trying to seize power in an unconstitutional manner.

Reacting to today’s court decision, Tikhanovskaya pledged to continue her struggle and political activities, calling the trial a “farce”.

“Fifteen years in prison. This is how the regime “rewarded” my work for democratic changes in Belarus”, he wrote on twitter.

“But today I’m not thinking about my own punishment. I think of the thousands of innocent people, the prisoners and the people who were sentenced to real prison terms,” ​​he stressed. “I will not stop until every single one of them is freed”he promised.

According to the state news agency Belta and the human rights group Viasna, another prominent member of the opposition, Pavel Latusko, was sentenced to 18 years in prison, and three other activists convicted of participating in the same “conspiracy” to 12 years.

Rights activists estimate that around 1,500 people are in prison in Belarus on politically motivated charges.

Tikhanovskaya’s husband is serving an 18-year prison sentence after being found guilty in 2021 of organizing mass riots, a decision the opposition leader said was political revenge and part of Lukashenko’s crackdown on anyone he saw as a threat.

Last Friday a court in Minsk sentenced 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights activist Ales Bialatski to 10 years in prison for funding protests and other offences, a trial condemned in the West as a “fraud”.

Lukashenko, in power since 1994, has accused the West of trying to destabilize Belarus and vowed to crack down hard on any new attempts to challenge his rule.