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Tsikhanouski’s arrest and activism sparked unprecedented protests in Belarus, difficult Lukashenko’s decades-long rule.
Belarus opposition chief Siarhei Tsikhanouski has been launched from jail after 5 years, his spouse Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya stated in a submit on X.
Tsikhanouskaya, who took over the opposition trigger after her husband’s jailing, shared a video of him on Saturday, smiling and embracing her after his launch with the caption: “FREE”.
“My husband Siarhei is free! It’s exhausting to explain the enjoyment in my coronary heart,” she wrote on X, thanking United States President Donald Trump, US envoy Keith Kellogg, and European allies.
“We’re not carried out. 1150 political prisoners stay behind bars. All have to be launched,” she added.
My husband Siarhei is free! It’s exhausting to explain the enjoyment in my coronary heart.
Thanks, 🇺🇸 @POTUS, @SPE_Kellogg, @JohnPCoale, DAS Christopher W. Smith, @StateDept & our 🇪🇺 allies, for all of your efforts.
We’re not carried out. 1150 political prisoners stay behind bars. All have to be launched. pic.twitter.com/MhngqBHFq3
— Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (@Tsihanouskaya) June 21, 2025
Tsikhanouski, 46, is now in Lithuania’s capital Vilnius, a spokesperson for his spouse stated.
A complete of 14 prisoners had been launched, the spokesperson added. Apart from Tsikhanouski, 5 Belarus nationals, three Poles, two Latvians, two Japanese and one Swede had been launched, Lithuania stated.
Amongst these launched was former Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Igor Karnei, who was arrested in 2023 for collaborating in an “extremist” organisation.
In keeping with the Lithuanian overseas minister Kestutis Budrys, these launched have now been transferred from Belarus to Lithuania, the place they’re receiving “correct care”.
The announcement got here simply hours after Lukashenko met US particular envoy Keith Kellogg in Minsk, the highest-profile go to of a US official to the authoritarian state in years.
Native media reviews stated the discharge got here simply hours after the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko met Trump’s Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg in Minsk.
Tsikhanouski had deliberate to run in opposition to incumbent Lukashenko within the August 2020 presidential election. A charismatic activist, he coined a brand new insult for Lukashenko when he referred to as him a “cockroach” and his marketing campaign slogan was “Cease the cockroach”. His supporters waved slippers, typically used to kill the bugs, at protests.
However Tsikhanouski was arrested and detained weeks earlier than the vote. His spouse,Tsikhanouskaya – a political novice on the time of his arrest, took his place within the polls.
Tsikhanouski was sentenced in 2021 to 18 years in jail for “organising riots” and “inciting hatred” after which to 18 months further for “insubordination”.
Belarus, dominated by Lukashenko since 1994, has outlawed all opposition actions and is the one European nation to retain the demise penalty as a punishment.
There are greater than 1,000 political prisoners within the nation, in response to the Belarusian human rights group Viasna.
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