Belarus Unexpectedly Freed This Major Opposition Leader After Five Years And He Looks Almost Unrecognizable
Tikhanovsky had served nearly five years in prison in solitary confinement and had changed drastically, dropping from 135 kg to 79 kg.
Belarus has unexpectedly freed a major opposition leader who had been sentenced to 18 years in prison for organizing protests against the country’s authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko.
46-year-old Sergei Tikhanovsky, a popular YouTube blogger, had tried to run against Lukashenko in the 2020 presidential elections but was arrested ahead of the vote.
His wife, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, stepped in and ran in his place and led a mass protest movement against Lukashenko.
But Lukashenko was re-elected for a sixth term in August 2020 in a vote that is widely regarded as rigged, with many considering Tikhanovskaya as the real winner.
However, Tikhanovskaya was forced to flee Belarus for Lithuania as Lukashenko cracked down on the opposition, either arresting or forcing most opposition leaders into exile.
Tikhanovsky, meanwhile, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for organizing mass unrest and inciting social hatred in a closed door hearing.
On Saturday, June 21, authorities suddenly released Tikhanovsky and 13 other prisoners and transferred them to Lithuania as part of a US-brokered deal, according to reports.
Authorities put black bags over the prisoners’ heads, and they were transported without knowing where they were going.
Tikhanovsky, who had served nearly five years in prison in solitary confinement, had changed drastically and was almost unrecognizable, dropping from 135 kg to 79 kg.
He has since reunited with his wife, their nine-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son and said his release is “a dream that’s still hard to believe.”
“At first she couldn’t understand, and then she rushed in — she was crying, I was crying... for a very long time. My son too! These are emotions that cannot be described,” he said, according to AP.
He thanked US President Donald Trump for making his release possible and asked the US “to help free all political prisoners in Belarus.”
In recent years, Lukashenko has released more than 300 prisoners, which some analysts said is an attempt to heal the relationship with the West, according to Reuters.
More than 1,150 political prisoners still remain behind bars, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski and prominent Belarusian opposition leader Maria Kalesnikava.
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