Belarus opposition leader Siarhei Tsikhanouski freed from jail, says wife | Politics News

Tsikhanouski’s arrest and activism sparked unprecedented protests in Belarus, challenging Lukashenko’s decades-long rule.

Belarus opposition leader Siarhei Tsikhanouski has been released from prison after five years, his wife Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya said in a post on X.

Tsikhanouskaya, who took over the opposition cause after her husband’s jailing, shared a video of him on Saturday, smiling and embracing her after his release with the caption: “FREE”.

“My husband Siarhei is free! It’s hard to describe the joy in my heart,” she wrote on X, thanking United States President Donald Trump, US envoy Keith Kellogg, and European allies.

“We’re not done. 1150 political prisoners remain behind bars. All must be released,” she added.

Tsikhanouski, 46, is now in Lithuania’s capital Vilnius, a spokesperson for his wife said. A total of 14 prisoners were released, the spokesperson added.

Local media reports said the release came just hours after the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko met Trump’s Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg in Minsk.

Tsikhanouski had planned to run against incumbent Lukashenko in the August 2020 presidential election. A charismatic activist, he coined a new insult for Lukashenko when he called him a “cockroach” and his campaign slogan was “Stop the cockroach”. His supporters waved slippers, often used to kill the insects, at protests.

But Tsikhanouski was arrested and detained weeks before the vote. His wife,Tsikhanouskaya – a political novice at the time of his arrest, took his place in the polls.

Tsikhanouski was sentenced in 2021 to 18 years in prison for “organising riots” and “inciting hatred” and then to 18 months extra for “insubordination”.

Belarus, ruled by Lukashenko since 1994, has outlawed all opposition movements and is the only European country to retain the death penalty as a punishment.

There are more than 1,000 political prisoners in the country, according to the Belarusian human rights group Viasna.