Belarusian oppositioner Syarhey Tsikhanouski freed from jail alongside other political prisoners

According to media reports, the release was made possible by a visit to Minsk by Trump's special representative, Keith Kellogg. He held a meeting with the self-proclaimed president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko.

Kellogg's deputy, John Cole, said that Belarus had released 14 prisoners at Trump's request.

Cole says thanks to President Trump's strong leadership, 14 prisoners were released from Belarus today. Thank you to the Lithuanian government for their cooperation and assistance — they remain true friends and allies.

In addition to Tsikhanouski, Radio Liberty journalist Igor Karney is among these 14 people. All of them were brought to Vilnius.

Where is Syarhey Tsikhanouski and what is known about him

The opposition leader has already left Belarus. Footage of him being greeted as he got off the bus was shared on social media.

Syarhey Tsikhanouski is 46 years old. He was born in Horki and grew up in Gomel, where he graduated from the philology department of the local university.

He then went into business. He organized concerts, opened nightclubs in Mozyr and Gomel, owned a chain of mobile phone stores, and a video studio that shot commercials for popular brands.

In 2019, Syarhey Tsikhanouski created the channel Strana dlya zhizni (Country for life - ed.) to, as he said, fight the arbitrariness of officials. In less than a year, the channel became one of the most popular on Belarusian YouTube.

The blogger actively traveled around the regions, meeting with subscribers and residents and interviewing them. People told Tsikhanouski about their problems, often criticizing officials and the authorities.

He soon became one of the key figures in the events of 2020. In particular, Tsikhanouski decided to run for president but was arrested on the eve of the campaign, which prevented him from submitting his documents.

On May 29, 2020, during a legal pre-election rally in Grodno, Tsikhanouski was detained after a provocation by security forces.

Two months later, Lukashenko publicly stated that Tsikhanouski had been detained on his orders. The so-called president accused the blogger of attempting to organize a revolution in Belarus.

As a result, his wife, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, became a candidate, and after his arrest, Syarhey joined the campaign as her campaign manager and confidant. Pickets in support of Tsikhanouskaya gathered huge crowds across the country.

The agency recalls that the Belarusian authorities severely punished Tsikhanouski for his attempts to mobilize ordinary people for political activity. He was tried in a closed session in the Gomel detention center. In December 2021, he was sentenced to 18 years in a strict regime colony on four political charges.

Later, another year and a half was added to his sentence for alleged malicious disobedience to the colony administration. Syarhey categorically refused to admit guilt.

Tsikhanouski was kept in complete isolation from the world. For more than two years, there was no information about him.

When the political prisoner was released abroad today, his son Karney, daughter Ahniya, and wife Sviatlana Tikhanovskaya were waiting for him.

Another release

In addition to Tsikhanouski, Lukashenko released political prisoner Igor Karney. He gained popularity as a journalist for Radio Liberty.

Karney was born on February 15, 1967, in Minsk. He graduated from the journalism department of Belarusian State University. He worked for a number of Belarusian and foreign media outlets.

He covered topics such as politics, human rights violations, and the work of law enforcement agencies. He is known as an essayist, author of texts on the cultural and historical heritage of Belarus, and travel blogger.

After Radio Svaboda was declared an extremist organization, Karney stopped working with the agency but remained in Belarus.

On July 17, 2023, he was arrested. The journalist was charged with participation in an extremist organization. Presumably, the formal reason for the prosecution was photographs taken at the funeral of artist Oles Pushkin and subsequently published in independent media.

On March 22, 2024, the Minsk City Court sentenced him to three years in prison. Korney was sent to serve his sentence in correctional colony No. 17 in the city of Shklov. The journalist was thrown into a cell in the colony several times and was eventually sentenced to another 10 months in prison for disobeying the administration's orders.

Protests in Belarus

On August 9, 2020, protests broke out in Belarus over the rigging of the presidential election. In the first few days, force was used against the protesters, and there were mass arrests.

Moreover, special forces used rubber bullets, flashbang grenades, and even lethal weapons against the protesters.

Later, Lukashenko's assistant for general affairs, Nikolai Latyshenok, said that the protests were dispersed because the demonstrators were building barricades and blocking streets, thereby disturbing other residents.

For some time, the protests in Belarus were suppressed, and Lukashenko remained in power.