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Belarus releases opposition leader Sergey Tikhanovsky after US visit
Belarus has released opposition figure Sergey Tikhanovsky after a rare visit by a US representative. His return to Lithuania gives hope for changes in the country.
Belarus releases opposition leader Sergey Tikhanovsky after US visit
Belarusian authorities have released Sergey Tikhanovsky, a key dissident figure and the husband of exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. This was announced by Tikhanovskaya's team on Saturday after a senior US official made a rare visit to Belarus.
Freedom after political imprisonment
Sergey Tikhanovsky, a popular blogger and activist who was taken into custody in 2020, arrived in Vilnius, Lithuania, with 13 other political prisoners, the team told his wife. The release came just hours after a meeting between authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko and US special envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg in Minsk.
Emotional reunion
A video posted on his wife's official Telegram channel showed Tikhanovsky getting out of a white minibus, his head shaved and a broad smile. He pulled Tikhanovskaya into a long hug as her supporters applauded.
A step in the right direction
"My husband is free. It's hard to describe the joy in my heart," Tikhanovskaya told reporters. However, she added that her team's work is "not yet complete" while over 1,100 political prisoners remain behind bars in Belarus.
Background to the arrest
Sergey Tikhanovsky was arrested after announcing plans to challenge Lukashenko in the 2020 election. After his arrest, his wife took his place and mobilized large crowds across the country. The official election results confirmed a sixth term for Lukashenko, but were denounced as fraudulent by the opposition and the West.
More dissidents in custody
Other prominent dissidents remain in Belarusian prisons, including Nobel laureate Ales Bialiatski, a human rights activist who is serving a 10-year sentence on politically motivated charges. Viktor Babaryka, a former banker and Lukashenko's main rival in the 2020 election, and Maria Kolesnikova, a charismatic leader of that year's mass protests, are also in custody.
Officials from various media
Along with Tikhanovsky, long-time Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty correspondent Ihar Karnei was also released. The US government-funded broadcaster confirmed this. Karnei, who previously worked for major Belarusian and Russian newspapers, was sentenced to three years in prison after being arrested on extremist charges that he dismissed as absurd.
Reporting and censorship in Belarus
RFE/RL's Belarusian service has been labeled extremist in the country - a commonly used term for anyone who criticizes the Lukashenko government. Therefore, it has become a criminal offense to work for this service or distribute its content.
Thanks for the release
“We are deeply grateful to President Trump for securing the release of this brave journalist who suffered at the hands of the Belarusians,” the network’s CEO Stephen Capus said in a press release Saturday.
Current developments
Karnei was arrested several times during the 2020 protests. Unlike many of his colleagues, he chose to stay in Belarus, despite the subsequent repression. He was arrested again in July 2023 when police searched his home and confiscated cell phones and computers.
Additionally, an Estonian citizen who founded an NGO to raise funds for Belarusian refugees was released. According to the Estonian Foreign Ministry, Allan Roio was arrested last January and sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison for allegedly founding an extremist organization.