Siarhei Tikhanovsky, a prominent figure in the opposition movement of Belarus, has been freed from prison following a pardon, as reported by the Belarusian human rights organization Viasna on Saturday.
Belarus has released Siarhei Tsikhanouski, a prominent dissident and the spouse of exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, following a visit from a senior official of the Trump administration, as announced by Tsikhanouskaya’s team on Saturday.
The announcement stated that Tsikhanouski, a well-known blogger and activist, had arrived in Vilnius, Lithuania, together with 13 other political prisoners. His release occurred just hours after the Belarusian authorities revealed that the country’s authoritarian President, Alexander Lukashenko, had met with Trump’s Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, in Minsk.
Tsikhanouski was imprisoned in 2020 after he declared his intention to contest Lukashenko in that year’s election. After his arrest, his wife took his place in the election, garnering significant support across the nation. The official election results awarded Lukashenko his sixth term in office, but these results were condemned by both the opposition and Western nations as fraudulent.
In the wake of unprecedented protests that erupted following the election, Tsikhanouskaya fled the country due to pressure from the authorities. Subsequently, her husband was sentenced to 19 1/2 years in prison on charges related to organizing mass riots.
