Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, a leader of the exiled opposition in Belarus, was found guilty of treason and “plot to seize power” and sentenced to 15 years in prison on Monday. Tsikhanouskaya claimed the judgement was retaliation for her efforts to advance democracy.
Tsikhanouskaya, a 40-year-old former English teacher, fled to the neighbouring country of Lithuania in 2020 after competing against the country’s president, Alexander Lukashenko, in a contest that the official results indicated Lukashenko won handily.
At the time, she and the opposition claimed that the results had been rigged to give Lukashenko the victory rather than her. The assertion was refuted by Lukashenko, who has ruthlessly ruled Belarus for close to 30 years.
Mass protests against Lukashenko, a close ally of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, then erupted which his security forces suppressed, locking up his opponents or forcing them to flee.
The authorities put Tsikhanouskaya, the opposition’s de-facto head, on trial in absentia in January, accusing her and other opposition figures of trying to seize power in an unconstitutional way.
Belta, the state news agency, said a court in Minsk had sentenced Tsikhanouskaya to 15 years in a prison camp after finding her guilty of treason and conspiracy to seize power.
The same court handed an 18-year prison sentence to Pavel Latushko, a prominent member of the Belarusian opposition council, and 12-year jail sentences to three other activists convicted of being part of the same plot, Belta reported.
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