Tsikhanouski’s arrest and activism sparked unprecedented protests in Belarus, difficult Lukashenko’s decades-long rule.
Belarus opposition chief Siarhei Tsikhanouski has been launched from jail after 5 years, his spouse Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya mentioned in a put up on X.
Tsikhanouskaya, who took over the opposition trigger after her husband’s jailing, shared a video of him on Saturday, smiling and embracing her after his launch with the caption: “FREE”.
“My husband Siarhei is free! It’s onerous to explain the enjoyment in my coronary heart,” she wrote on X, thanking United States President Donald Trump, US envoy Keith Kellogg, and European allies.
“We’re not executed. 1150 political prisoners stay behind bars. All have to be launched,” she added.
My husband Siarhei is free! It’s onerous to explain the enjoyment in my coronary heart.
Thanks, 🇺🇸 @POTUS, @SPE_Kellogg, @JohnPCoale, DAS Christopher W. Smith, @StateDept & our 🇪🇺 allies, for all of your efforts.
We’re not executed. 1150 political prisoners stay behind bars. All have to be launched. pic.twitter.com/MhngqBHFq3
— Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (@Tsihanouskaya) June 21, 2025
Tsikhanouski, 46, is now in Lithuania’s capital Vilnius, a spokesperson for his spouse mentioned. A complete of 14 prisoners had been launched, the spokesperson added.
Native media reviews mentioned the discharge got here simply hours after the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko met Trump’s Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg in Minsk.
Tsikhanouski had deliberate to run towards incumbent Lukashenko within the August 2020 presidential election. A charismatic activist, he coined a brand new insult for Lukashenko when he known as him a “cockroach” and his marketing campaign slogan was “Cease the cockroach”. His supporters waved slippers, usually used to kill the bugs, at protests.
However Tsikhanouski was arrested and detained weeks earlier than the vote. His spouse,Tsikhanouskaya – a political novice on the time of his arrest, took his place within the polls.
Tsikhanouski was sentenced in 2021 to 18 years in jail for “organising riots” and “inciting hatred” after which to 18 months additional for “insubordination”.
Belarus, dominated by Lukashenko since 1994, has outlawed all opposition actions and is the one European nation to retain the dying penalty as a punishment.
There are greater than 1,000 political prisoners within the nation, in accordance with the Belarusian human rights group Viasna.