MOSCOW — A Belarusian court convicted popular blogger and leading opposition figure Sergei Tikhanovsky of inciting mass unrest and social hatred and sentenced him to 18 years in prison Tuesday after a closed 173-day -trial. It was the latest in a series of hefty sentences for political rivals who opposed President Alexander Lukashenko in the 2020 election.
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Tikhanovsky had announced plans to challenge Lukashenko in that race but was arrested, jailed and barred from running, prompting his wife, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, to take his place, forming an alliance with two other figures, Maria Kolesnikova and Veronika Tsepkalo.
In September, Kolesnikova was jailed for 11 years. Another of Lukashenko’s opposition rivals who announced plans to run in the election, Viktor Babariko, was jailed in July for 14 years.
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Street protests broke out after Lukashenko, in power since 1994, was declared the winner of the election in results rejected by the opposition. Facing the strongest challenge ever to his rule, he launched a brutal crackdown, which eventually succeeded in crushing the protests. Thousands of Belarusians have fled into exile.
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The Belarusian rights group Viasna says 920 political prisoners are being held by the government. People have been arrested for a tweet or for displaying the red-and-white flag adopted by the opposition.
In a sign to his supporters, Tikhanovsky on Tuesday managed to display the red-and-white colors as he was led into court with his hands cuffed behind his back, video on independent Belarusian media showed. He held a red folder sandwiched between white papers.
After her husband’s sentence was handed down, Tikhanov-skaya tweeted that the Belarusian opposition would not give
up its struggle. “The dictator publicly takes revenge on his strongest opponents,” Tikhanovskaya tweeted. “While hiding the political prisoners in closed trials, he hopes to continue repressions in silence. But the whole world watches. We won’t stop.”
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Tikhanovskaya was forced to leave Belarus after leading the initial protests over the results of the election and attempting to lodge a complaint about them at the Central Election Commission. Her ally Tsepkalo fled earlier, fearing arrest.
The election was condemned as fraudulent by the State Department and the European Union. Tikhanovskaya, who ran for office on a platform that called for free elections, is recognized in Europe and the United States as the winner.
The United States and the E.U. have imposed sanctions on Lukashenko over the election, political violence against protesters and the forced landing of a Ryanair plane to arrest opposition activist Roman Protasevich.
Tikhanovsky, 43, a former nightclub owner, is famous in Belarus for his YouTube channel “Country for Life,” based on the lives of ordinary Belarusians. He traveled around the country interviewing people about their daily problems, and small-business executives about the corruption and bureaucratic red tape they faced.
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He was arrested in May 2020 over mass rallies he organized to collect signatures needed to run against Lukashenko. Prosecutors accused him of inciting mass unrest and whipping up social hatred.
When the trial of Tikhanovsky and five others began in June this year, video showed the handcuffed defendants placed in a cage in a small courtroom.
“I don’t know what to expect,” his wife tweetedat the time, “but definitely not justice.”
The court also sentenced on Tuesday another popular blogger, Ihar Losik, to 15 years in prison. Others handed long sentences were former presidential candidate Nikolai Statkevich, who was given 14 years; and former opposition activists Vladimir Tsyganovich, for 15 years; Artyom Sakov, for 16 years; and Dmitry Popov, for 16 years.
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“Long live Belarus,” Statkevich said as he was led into court handcuffed for Tuesday’s sentencing, according to video shown on Belarusian independent media.
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Losik worked for a popular Telegram channel, Belamova, before his arrest in June last year, and also reported for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
RFE/RL President Jamie Fly condemned the convictions, adding that Losik’s treatment by authorities was “reprehensible. The closed-door trial he and his co-defendants have endured for the past five months has been an outrageous travesty of justice.”
Fly said Losik had been under severe physical and psychological pressure in jail and had been allowed to see his wife only once, and had been denied visits from his daughter and his parents. He has mounted two hunger strikes.
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“Prison authorities have also sought to affect Losik’s mental state while in detention with frequent transfers to different cells and by denying mail privileges for extended periods of time,” Fly said.
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Franak Viacorka, senior adviser to Tikhanovskaya, said the hefty sentences were “just numbers” and called the trial a “farce and shame for the regime.”
“We’ll release them,” he said in a tweet. “For 173 days, the regime ran a closed trial, even the relatives weren’t allowed in the courtroom.”
He said the trial was closed “because it recognizes how powerful these people are.” He said Lukashenko was “scared of all of them, even when they are behind bars.”
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He added that Losik was “only guilty only of believing in free democratic Belarus. This is his thought crime.”
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