Belarus Jails Presidential Aspirant Sergei Tsikhanousky 18 years for Criticizing the Government

A court on Tuesday jailed Belarus government critic Sergei Tsikhanousky for 18 years, state news agency Belta reported, at the conclusion of a trial conducted behind closed doors.

Tikhanovsky’s wife Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who was a political novice at the time of his arrest, replaced him as an election candidate and is widely believed to have won the vote.

What was he found guilty of?

Tsikhanousky had planned to run against Lukashenko in the August 2020 presidential elections in Belarus. However, he was arrested before the vote and jailed.

While campaigning, Tsikhanousky coined a new insult for Lukashenko when he called him a “cockroach.” The campaign slogan became “Stop the cockroach,” and supporters waved slippers – sometimes used to kill the insects – at protests.

Soon after announcing his presidential bid, the activist was detained and charged with violating public order.

The 43-year-old — in custody since May 2020 — faced up to 15 years in prison if found guilty of several charges including the organizing of riots.

Wife and successor Sviatlana keeps up fight

As Tuesday’s proceedings opened, Tikhanovsky’s wife Sviatlana said any verdict would be “illegal and not something with which one can make peace.”

“I will keep defending the person I love and who became the leader of millions of Belarusians,” Tikhanovskaya said in a video address posted to Twitter.

“I will try to do something very difficult – maybe impossible – to bring closer the moment when we will see each other in a new Belarus,” she said.

Tsikhanouskaya, who had been a stay-at-home mother of two children at the time of her husband’s arrest, was forced to flee ex-Soviet Belarus after her electoral bid, to neighboring Lithuania.