In Belarus, some political prisoners were released, one of whom was Sergei Tikhanovsky, after the visit of the US President's Special Representative Keith Kellogg to Minsk.
ICTV Facts tells who Sergei Tikhanovsky is, how he became a political prisoner and why he is called one of the most famous oppositionists in Belarus.
Sergei Tikhanovsky – who is he?
Sergei Tikhanovsky is a Belarusian public figure and entrepreneur who is considered an oppositionist. He is 46 years old.
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Sergei himself was born in Gorki and grew up in Gomel. There, Tikhanovsky received an education at the philological faculty of the Francisk Skaryna Gomel State University.
For some time, Sergey was involved in entrepreneurial activity, in particular, he became a concert organizer, opened night clubs in Mozyr and Gomel, managed a network of mobile phone stores and was the owner of a video studio.
In 2019, Tikhanovsky became the author and host of the YouTube channel Country for Life, which soon became very popular in Belarus, as the online platform covered cases of corruption and abuse among officials.
Arrest of Sergei Tikhanovsky
In May 2020, before the presidential elections in Belarus, Sergei Tikhanovsky announced his desire to run. But the Central Electoral Commission in Belarus did not register him for the elections.
Instead, Sergei's wife, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, registered as a candidate for the presidency of Belarus. At the end of May, during a picket to collect signatures for her nomination, Sergei and nine other people were soon detained.
These individuals were accused of causing bodily harm to local law enforcement officers, as well as allegedly organizing actions aimed at disturbing public order.
After his arrest, Sergei joined the campaign of his wife, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, as her campaign manager and confidant.
In the summer of 2020 , presidential elections were held in Belarus, after which Alexander Lukashenko took office. It is worth noting that representatives of the Belarusian opposition and a number of countries around the world did not recognize the results of these elections.
Soon, mass protests broke out in Belarus and lasted for several months. That same summer, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and her children left for Lithuania.
Who ordered the arrest of Sergei Tikhanovsky
Self-proclaimed President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said two months later that opposition leader Sergei Tikhanovsky had been detained on his orders. He accused the public figure of allegedly trying to organize a Maidan in Belarus.
In the end, Tikhanovsky was convicted behind closed doors in the Gomel pretrial detention center. In December 2021, a court in Belarus issued a verdict: up to 18 years in a maximum security penal colony under four political articles.
Later, another 1.5 years were added to his sentence for allegedly malicious disobedience to the prison administration. The oppositionist himself did not admit guilt. As journalists reported, he was kept in complete isolation, since there was no public information about Tikhanovsky for more than two years.
Reunion of Sergei and Svetlana Tikhanovsky
Released from prison, Sergei has already reunited with his wife, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. He has already left Belarus. Together with his wife, his son Karney and daughter Agniya, who were abroad, were waiting for him.
Sergei Tikhanovsky meeting with his wife after his release. Photo: Svetlana Tikhanovskaya
As journalists noted, in the released footage from the meeting site one can see that Tikhanovsky has lost a significant amount of weight.
At the same time, journalists note that Sergei has changed very much in appearance, compared to the events before his arrest in 2020.
Following the visit of US Presidential Special Representative Keith Kellogg to Minsk, it became known that at least 14 political prisoners had been released. Kellogg's deputy John Cole said that Belarus released these people at the request of US President Donald Trump.
