Belarusian Political exile Denis Doudinsky on the draconian sentence given today to a Belarusian democracy movement leader.
Today Belarusian opposition leader, pro-democracy activist, famous blogger and dissident, Sergey Tikhanovsky was sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment. He was accused of “calls to violence against government, organizing of mass riots and disorder in the country, stirring up social enmity, incitement and strife.”
By this time Tikhanovsky had already spent more than 1.5 years in a jail awaiting the final sentence. He was detained in the spring of 2020 while collecting signatures for his wife’s nomination as a presidential candidate in the forthcoming elections.
His wife, former presidential candidate, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, is considered by the majority of Belarusians to have won the election in August 2020 and the real president of the country. She had to leave Belarus a day after the election under pressure from the authorities. She now lives in Lithuania.
Today Tikhanovskaya posted in her Twitter:
“My husband has been sentenced to 18 years in prison. The dictator publicly takes revenge on his strongest opponents. While hiding the political prisoners in closed trials, he hopes to continue repressions in silence. But the whole world is watching. We won’t stop.”
Many Belarusians have posted words of indignation in their public and social networks:
“It’s not Tikhanovsky who was sentenced to 18 years, we all were sentenced to 18 years.“
“Doesn’t matter how many years – 18, 20, 100 – we all are absolutely sure that we will see him and other political prisoners free and happy very soon.”
“Lukashenko is taking revenge on strong, free and intelligent people.”
“Today is a day of mourning. Belarus received her sentence, and we are burying the last manifestation of Freedom and Democracy.”
“It’s Lukashenko who got 18 years… 18 years more on top of his life sentence.”
Amnesty International and other international human rights organizations consider Tikhanovsky as a political prisoner and a prisoner of conscience.
