Without letters from relatives for the past three years, without the opportunity to buy basic hygiene products and inhumane treatment - this is how Belarusian oppositionist Sergei Tikhanovsky describes the conditions in which he was imprisoned in Belarus.
With the mediation of the US on June 21, he and 13 other Belarusian political prisoners were released. For Tikhanovsky, this is a real miracle - he still cannot believe that he is free. He adds that he could not have endured 20 years in prison.
Inhumane conditions
In 2021, entrepreneur and blogger Sergei Tikhanovsky was sentenced to 18 years in a penal colony. The charge against him: organizing street protests in Belarus. Tikhanovsky, known for his Telegram channel "Country for Life", had announced in May 2020 that he would run for president in the August 9 elections, but was not allowed to do so. His wife Svetlana ran instead. Tikhanovsky was arrested on May 29, 2020, during a rally in support of his wife's candidacy.
Tikhanovsky confirms that he was held in the harshest conditions in prison. He was not allowed visits from a lawyer or a priest. "For five years, I was not able to confess even once. "They didn't even let me go to the prison store and I had to ask other prisoners to buy me things like soap or a toothbrush," he says.
Since he was a political prisoner, Tikhanovsky had to clean his solitary cell four times a day. "What's so important about cleaning? Everything was clean. But the guards would check the dust with their fingers - and then send me back to the punishment cell," the politician says, barely able to hold back his tears. "The rapists and murderers in the neighboring cells have TVs, they have everything, but we (political prisoners - ed.) were not allowed anything. And human rights also apply to prisoners," Tikhanovsky recalls in this regard. He knows that other detained opposition politicians - Viktor Babariko and Maria Kolesnikova - are being held in the same terrible conditions.
How the release came about
In August last year, Tikhanovsky learned that the release of political prisoners, who wear yellow name tags in Belarusian prisons, was being prepared. They were all visited by a prosecutor. "They tried to convince us to apply for clemency. They talked to me for three hours, but I refused because I had not committed the crimes they accused me of", he says.
On January 14, Tikhanovsky was visited in Shodino prison by Roman Protasevich. The former editor-in-chief of the opposition channel Nexta on Telegram, who had called for protests against Alexander Lukashenko after the 2020 presidential election, was sentenced to eight years in prison in May 2023. However, he was pardoned three weeks later, and after his release he distanced himself from his opposition activities and was even shown on Belarusian state television several times.
For the meeting, Tikhanovsky was given prison clothes without a yellow badge and was taken to a room with video surveillance. "I understood that I would be filmed. I turned my back to the cameras, and the guards shouted at me. Then Protasevich came in and said that he was visiting different prisons and that political prisoners were being released." He wanted to convince Tikhanovsky to apply for a pardon or at least agree to leave the country. He brought him coffee, tea and butter - the only shipment Tikhanovsky had received in recent years. After being threatened by security forces, but also because of his health problems, Tikhanovsky signed a declaration that he would leave the country. In the last month, he has been given more food: double rations of butter, cheese and meat. Despite this, he weighs only 79 kg.
Tikhanovsky admits that in 2020 he simply did not believe that he would be imprisoned even before the then presidential elections. He assumed that as an entrepreneur he could be detained under the pretext of economic crimes.
He is now counting on the help of US President Donald Trump to release more political prisoners: "Trump can free all political prisoners with just one word. I ask him to do it". Tikhanovsky emphasizes that there are still 1,100 political prisoners in Belarusian prisons.
What are the plans for the future?
Sergei Tikhanovsky says that in prison, Lukashenko's opponents were considered traitors. "For me, anyone who does not resist is a traitor. We must continue to fight against Lukashenko, otherwise our country will turn into a desert, into a region without justice and compassion, into a country that is materially and spiritually ruined", he says, adding: "I once asked one of the guards if it was normal for him that Lukashenko would soon be in power for 40 years. He replied that Lukashenko at least pays the salaries. What can you talk about with such people?
Now the opponent of the regime wants to resume his YouTube channel and open others, including to publish all the documents from his criminal proceedings that have not been made public.
Who leads the Belarusian opposition?
Tsikhanouski has no claims to be the leader of the Belarusian opposition in exile and adds that the leader of the opposition remains his wife Svetlana. After five years in prison, you don't immediately become a leader, says Tikhanouski. "For more than five years I was alone, without news, and for three years I didn't even receive letters. I have a lot to learn."
Tsikhanouski links future changes in Belarus with the situation in Russia - a close ally of the Lukashenko regime. "There will be no liberation of Belarus until the Putin regime collapses. "If it weren't for Putin, everything would have been resolved in 2020 or 2021," he believes.
His wife Svetlana Tikhanovskaya emphasizes that she has promised to support Belarusians until all political prisoners are released and democratic elections are held. "As long as I have enough strength and support, I will continue this work," she assures.
Author: Darya Bernstein