Latest news with #Tsikhanouski
Leader Live
an hour ago
- Politics
- Leader Live
Starmer welcomes release of Belarusian opposition leader's husband
Siarhei Tsikhanouski, the husband of exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, was jailed in 2020 after announcing plans to challenge Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. The Prime Minister said his release was a reminder that 'democratic values cannot be silenced'. This is wonderful news and a moment of hope. The release of Siarhei Tsikhanouski is a reminder that democratic values cannot be silenced. — Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) June 21, 2025 The release of Mr Tsikhanouski and 13 other prisoners came just hours after the Belarusian authorities announced that the country's authoritarian president had met US President Donald Trump's Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg in Minsk. Mr Tsikhanouski was imprisoned after announcing plans to challenge Mr Lukashenko in the 2020 election. Following his arrest, his wife ran instead, rallying large crowds in her support across the country. In response to his release, Sir Keir said: 'This is wonderful news and a moment of hope. 'The release of Siarhei Tsikhanouski is a reminder that democratic values cannot be silenced.'
North Wales Chronicle
2 hours ago
- Politics
- North Wales Chronicle
Starmer welcomes release of Belarusian opposition leader's husband
Siarhei Tsikhanouski, the husband of exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, was jailed in 2020 after announcing plans to challenge Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. The Prime Minister said his release was a reminder that 'democratic values cannot be silenced'. This is wonderful news and a moment of hope. The release of Siarhei Tsikhanouski is a reminder that democratic values cannot be silenced. — Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) June 21, 2025 The release of Mr Tsikhanouski and 13 other prisoners came just hours after the Belarusian authorities announced that the country's authoritarian president had met US President Donald Trump's Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg in Minsk. Mr Tsikhanouski was imprisoned after announcing plans to challenge Mr Lukashenko in the 2020 election. Following his arrest, his wife ran instead, rallying large crowds in her support across the country. In response to his release, Sir Keir said: 'This is wonderful news and a moment of hope. 'The release of Siarhei Tsikhanouski is a reminder that democratic values cannot be silenced.'
Rhyl Journal
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Rhyl Journal
Starmer welcomes release of Belarusian opposition leader's husband
Siarhei Tsikhanouski, the husband of exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, was jailed in 2020 after announcing plans to challenge Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. The Prime Minister said his release was a reminder that 'democratic values cannot be silenced'. This is wonderful news and a moment of hope. The release of Siarhei Tsikhanouski is a reminder that democratic values cannot be silenced. — Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) June 21, 2025 The release of Mr Tsikhanouski and 13 other prisoners came just hours after the Belarusian authorities announced that the country's authoritarian president had met US President Donald Trump's Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg in Minsk. Mr Tsikhanouski was imprisoned after announcing plans to challenge Mr Lukashenko in the 2020 election. Following his arrest, his wife ran instead, rallying large crowds in her support across the country. In response to his release, Sir Keir said: 'This is wonderful news and a moment of hope. 'The release of Siarhei Tsikhanouski is a reminder that democratic values cannot be silenced.'
RNZ News
2 hours ago
- Politics
- RNZ News
Belarus Opposition leader freed from jail in US-brokered deal
By Andrius Sytas , Reuters Protesters hold flags during a demonstration rejecting the 2020 presidential election results, in Minsk, Belarus. File photo. Photo: AFP Belarus Opposition leader Siarhei Tsikhanouski and 13 other prisoners have been released from jail and are now free in Lithuania, the neighbouring country's government said. The release was brokered by US special envoy Keith Kellogg, a spokesperson for Lithuania's prime minister said on Saturday (local time). Kellogg earlier met with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, the country's state news agency Belta said. Tsikhanouski's wife, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, in a post on social media platform X, thanked US President Donald Trump, as well as Kellogg and others, for their efforts to secure her husband's release. "We're not done," Tsikhanouskaya wrote on her X account, calling for the release of a further 1150 prisoners. Lukashenko issued pardons for all those released in response to a US request, the president's spokeswoman, Natalya Eismont, said in a statement. Eismont's statement on the Pul Pervogo Telegram channel close to the president said the Belarusian nationals among the 14 released detainees had been "convicted of extremist and terrorist activity". She said the decision to release Tsikhanouski was "taken by the president strictly on humanitarian considerations with the aim of family reunification". Tsikhanouski was seen emerging from a van with a shaven head, smiling and immediately stepping up to hug his wife in a long embrace, a video released by her office showed. Reuters reported on Tuesday that Kellogg, the highest-ranking US official to visit Belarus in years, saw his mission as one that could help jump-start peace talks aimed at ending Russia's war against Ukraine. "President Trump encouraged this trip," Kellogg's deputy John Coale said in a video posted on his account on X. Five Belarus nationals were released along with three Poles, two Latvians, two Japanese citizens, one Estonian and one Swede, Lithuania said. Among those released by Belarus was Ihar Karnei, a former journalist at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, RFE/RL President and chief executive Stephen Capus said in a statement thanking Trump, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others. "We thank Secretary Rubio and his team, the Lithuanian government, and the international community for their support of our imprisoned journalists," he added. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a post on X that the release was "fantastic news and a powerful symbol of hope for all the political prisoners suffering under the brutal Lukashenka (sic) regime". "The free world needs you, Siarhei!", Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on X. A Belarus court in 2021 found Tsikhanouski, a 43-year-old video blogger, guilty of organising mass unrest and inciting social hatred, and handed him one of the longest jail terms in modern Belarusian history. His supporters said the charges were fabricated and politically motivated, and his wife has called the verdict political revenge. His wife ran in the elections in his place, and mass protests broke out after Lukashenko said he'd won the elections. Tsikhanouskaya has since left the country for exile in Lithuania. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why Kellogg travelled to Minsk and met Lukashenko. -Reuters
Boston Globe
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Belarus frees dissident Siarhei Tsikhanouski and 13 others after a rare visit from top US envoy
Advertisement 'My husband is free. It's difficult to describe the joy in my heart,' Tsikhanouskaya told reporters. But she added her team's work is 'not finished' while over 1,100 political prisoners remain behind bars in Belarus. Tsikhanouski, known for his anti-Lukashenko slogan 'stop the cockroach,' was jailed after announcing plans to challenge the strongman in the 2020 election. Following his arrest, his wife ran in his stead, rallying large crowds across the country. Official results of the election handed Lukashenko his sixth term in office but were denounced by the opposition and the West as a sham. Tens of thousands of people poured into the streets in the aftermath of the August 2020 vote, in the largest protests in the country's history. In the ensuing crackdown, more than 35,000 people were detained, with many beaten by police. Prominent opposition figures either fled the country or were imprisoned. Tsikhanouski was sentenced to 19 1/2 years in prison on charges of organizing mass riots. Advertisement Lukashenko has since extended his rule for a seventh term following a January 2025 election that the opposition called a farce. Since July 2024, he has pardoned nearly 300 people, including imprisoned U.S. citizens, seeking to mend ties with the West. At the meeting in Minsk, Lukashenko hugged and warmly welcomed Kellogg and the American delegation to his residence. 'I really hope that our conversation will be very sincere and open. Otherwise, what is the point of meeting? If we are clever and cunning in front of each other, we will not achieve results,' Lukashenko said. 'You have made a lot of noise in the world with your arrival.' Lukashenko's press secretary, Natalya Eismont, told Russian state media hours later that he freed the 14 prisoners following a request from U.S. President Donald Trump. It was not immediately clear whether Kellogg's visit might pave the way for the lifting of some U.S. sanctions against Minsk, imposed over the brutal crackdown against the 2020 protests and Lukashenko's support of Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine. 'Lukashenko is clearly trying to get out of international isolation, and the release of such a large group of political prisoners signals a desire to start a dialogue with the U.S. in order to soften international sanctions,' Belarusian political analyst Valery Karbalevich told The Associated Press. 'After five years, Lukashenko is trying to loosen the knot with which the Kremlin tied him, using him for the war against Ukraine,' Karbalevich said. Advertisement Belarus has allowed the Kremlin to use its territory to send troops and weapons into Ukraine, and also to station its forces and nuclear weapons there. Many other prominent dissidents still languish in Belarusian jails, among them Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski, a human rights advocate serving a 10-year prison sentence on charges widely denounced as politically motivated. Bialiatski, founder of Viasna, Belarus' oldest and most prominent rights group, was arrested in 2021 during raids by the country's main security agency that still goes by its Soviet-era name, the KGB. In March 2023, he was convicted on charges of smuggling and financing actions that 'grossly violated public order,' and sentenced to 10 years. Authorities labeled him especially dangerous because of alleged 'extremist' tendencies. He, his family and supporters say the charges against him are politically motivated, and a U.N. panel of human rights experts called on Belarus to release him. In 2022, when Bialiatski was behind bars, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with the prominent Russian rights group Memorial and Ukraine's Center for Civil Liberties. Bialiatski has been serving his sentence at a penal colony for repeat offenders in the city of Gorki. The facility is notorious for beatings and hard labor. Bialiatski's wife warned last year about his deteriorating health, saying the 62-year-old battles multiple chronic illnesses. Also behind bars is Viktor Babaryka, a former banker who was widely seen in 2020 as Lukashenko's main electoral rival, and Maria Kolesnikova, a close ally of Tsikhanouskaya and charismatic leader of that year's mass protests. With her close-cropped hair and trademark gesture of forming her hands into the shape of a heart, Kolesnikova became an even greater symbol of resistance when Belarusian authorities tried to deport her. She responded by tearing up her passport at the border and walking back into Belarus. Advertisement Released alongside Tsikhanouski was longtime Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty correspondent Ihar Karnei, the U.S. government-funded broadcaster confirmed. Karnei, who had also worked with prominent Belarusian and Russian newspapers, had been serving a three-year service on extremism charges he rejected as a sham. 'The release was a big surprise for me,' Karnei told AP in a phone interview Saturday. 'I didn't believe it until the very end, but now I understand that other political prisoners deserve the same.' He said that he spent about six months in solitary confinement. 'Most people suffer simply for their beliefs and do not deserve these terrible conditions and terms,' Karnei said. RFE/RL's Belarusian service had been designated extremist in the country, a common label handed to anyone who criticizes Lukashenko's government. As a result, working for it or spreading its content has become a criminal offense. 'We are deeply grateful to President Trump for securing the release of this brave journalist, who suffered at the hands of the Belarusian authorities,' the broadcaster's CEO Stephen Capus said Saturday in a press release. Karnei was detained several times while covering the 2020 protests. Unlike many of his colleagues, he chose to stay in Belarus despite the ensuing repression. He was arrested again in July 2023, as police raided his apartment seizing phones and computers. The group Reporters Without Borders says Belarus is Europe's leading jailer of journalists. At least 40 are serving long prison sentences, according to the independent Belarusian Association of Journalists. Many face beatings, poor medical care and the inability to contact lawyers or relatives, according to activists and former inmates. Advertisement Belarus also freed an Estonian national who had set up an NGO to raise funds for Belarusian refugees. According to the Estonian Foreign Ministry, Allan Roio was detained last January, and sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison on charges of establishing an extremist organization.
