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27
February
2023

Belarusian opposition activist Tikhanovsky serving 18-year sentence gets one more

MINSK. Feb 27 (Interfax) – A Belarusian opposition politician, who was sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment, has now been convicted of disobeying the demands of his prison administration, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Belarus said on Monday.

“Having taken into account the evidence presented and the position of the public prosecutor, Zhodino town court ordered a guilty sentence of a one year six month for [Sergei] Tikhanovsky as per part two Article 411 of the Republic of Belarus Penal Code,” a statement said.

“Combined, his sentences total 15 years 9 months 5 days, including two years five months 18 days to be served in a prison and the remainder at a high-security correctional facility,” the statement said.

“It was established that the accused, already sentenced to 18 years of imprisonment for a number of extremist crimes, was in August 2022 transferred by a court in Mogilyov’s Oktyabrsky district into a prison for a three-year term,” the statement said.

“While serving his sentence at that penitentiary, between August and November 2022 Tikhanovsky repeatedly defied the legitimate requirements of the administration, including by violating the prison conditions, ignoring the legitimate demands of the staff and being rude to them, provoking cellmates into conflicts, for which he was penalized repeatedly,” the statement said.

As a result, Tikhanovsky was charged with “malicious disobedience to the demands of the administration of the correctional facility fulfilling the penalty in the form of imprisonment.” In the court, he pleaded not guilty to the charge. The new sentence has yet to come into effect, and may be appealed and protested in an appellate procedure.

In 2020 Tikhanovsky intended to run for president in Belarus. When the Central Election Commission refused to register his bid and he was arrested, his wife Svetlana Tikhanovskaya joined the race.

The official results announced by the CEC stated that Tikhanovskaya came in second with 10% of the vote. A number of EU members recognized Tikhanovskaya as the leader of Belarusian opposition forces.

Mass protests against the outcome of the Belarusian presidential election of August 9, 2020, in which Alexander Lukashenko, in office since 1994, was declared the winner, continued in Belarus for over than six months. The opposition did not recognize the election outcome, saying the voting was rigged. The protesters demanded Lukashenko’s resignation, the release of political prisoners, and a new election.