A Belarusian court sentenced exiled opposition leader Svitlana Tikhanovska in absentia to 15 years in prison on Monday along with four other opponents, also refugees abroad, the Belta agency reported, citing AFP and Reuters.

Former Minister of Culture Pavlo Latushko, a member of the Belarusian opposition organization “Coordinating Council for Democratic Transition”, was sentenced to 18 years in prison at the same trial, which Tikhanovska considers a “farce”. Three other opponents Serhii Dilevskyi, Maria Moroz and Olga Kovalkova received 12 years of imprisonment.

All those convicted in this trial live in Lithuania or Poland. They were accused, in particular, of conspiring to unconstitutionally seize power, creating an extremist formation, and publicly calling for a power grab.

At the age of 40, Tikhanovskaya fled Belarus after losing the 2020 presidential election to President Oleksandr Lukashenko. The elections were accompanied by mass protests organized by the opposition, which accuses Lukashenka of falsifying the elections.

• “With me or without me, we with the democratic forces will continue to do everything possible to release our political prisoners and achieve democratic changes in our country.
• Today I am not thinking about my own punishment. I think about the thousands of innocent people who were arrested and sentenced to real prison terms,” ​​she responded on Telegram after the verdict was announced.

According to the Vesna public organization, there are a total of 1,438 political prisoners in Belarus, among them activists, bloggers, businessmen or former candidates for the presidential elections, including Tikhanovskaya’s husband Serhiy Tikhanovsky. (Source: Agerpres)