A court in Belarus has sentenced the husband of opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the main opponent of President Alexander Lukashenko, to 18 years in prison. Blogger and activist Sergei Tikhanovski is held responsible for large-scale disturbances, according to state media. He has denied the allegations.
The trial of Tikhanovski has taken place behind closed doors in a detention center in Gomel in recent months. Tikhanovskaya, who lives in exile herself, reacted indignantly on Twitter to her husband’s conviction. “The dictator publicly takes revenge on his strongest opponents,” she concluded.
More opponents of Lukashenko convicted
Several of Tikhanovski’s supporters were sentenced to prison terms of up to 16 years on Tuesday. Other key opponents of Lukashenko and his regime have already been convicted. These include the well-known activist Maria Kolesnikova. She refused to flee abroad and was sentenced to 11 years in prison in September.
Authorities arrested blogger Tikhanovski last year in the run-up to the presidential election. He actually wanted to participate himself, but after his arrest his politically inexperienced wife ran as a candidate. He turned out to be the main rival of Lukashenko, who has been in power in Eastern European Belarus since 1994. That country is also known as the last dictatorship in Europe.
fraud
Lukashenko won last year’s elections by force majeure, according to the official results, which led to enormous unrest. Many people believed that fraud had taken place. Lukashenko’s security forces cracked down on protesting civilians, prompting the European Union to impose sanctions on his regime. This led to a conflict in which Belarus directed large groups of migrants to the external border with the EU.
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