Belarus sentences opposition member Svetlana Tijanóvskaya in absentia for “conspiracy”

A Minsk court has sentenced in absentia the Belarusian opposition leader in exile, Svetlana Tikhanovskayato 15 years in prison after finding her guilty of charges such as conspiracy to seize power through unconstitutional means.

As reported by the Belarusian agency BELTjustice sentenced four other exiled opponents in the same case, including the former Minister of Culture Pavel Latushko and member of the Coordination Council for a democratic transition in Belarus.

Latushko was sentenced to 18 years in prison, as maria moroz, Olga Kovalkova and Sergei Dylevsky to 12 years in jail.

[Tijanóvskaya, líder de la oposición bielorrusa: “Lukashenko no nos vio venir con lo macho que es”]

The Belarusian Prosecutor’s Office had requested 19 years in prison for Tijanóvskaya and Latushko and 12 years for other defendants in the case. All those convicted are in exile in Lithuania or Poland and were tried in absentia.

The court found Tijanóvskaya and the other opponents guilty of unconstitutionally arranging the seizure of state power; created an extremist formation; and made public calls to seize state power and commit other actions aimed at harming the national security of Belarus.

They were also found guilty of deliberate actions intended to incite social enmity and discord, according to reports. efe.

Tikhanovskayawhich is considered the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential elections, described as fraudulent by the opposition and the West, and which sparked the largest protests in the history of Belarus, previously stated that the judicial system in his country “has become a machine of repression and terror”.

[Bielorrusia condena a 10 años de cárcel al activista Ales Bialiatski, Premio Nobel de la Paz en 2022]

The opposition leader has played down the importance of the sentence and has stated on her Telegram channel that “with it or without it, the democratic forces and I will continue to do everything possible to free our political prisoners and achieve democratic changes in our country.” .

The protests after the presidential elections, in which the head of state, Alexander Lukashenkoclaimed his sixth term, were violently repressed amid allegations of torture.

In total there are 1,438 political prisoners in Belarus among bloggers, businessmen, activists, protesters and presidential hopefuls, including Tijanóvskaya’s husband, Sergei Tikhanovsky, according to the Vesná human rights organization.

Last December Lukashenko commuted or reduced the sentences of 4,500 prisoners under an amnesty law, but none had been arrested in protests against electoral fraud.