Siarhei Tsikhanouski sentenced to additional 1.5 years of imprisonment

The political prisoner Siarhei Tsikhanouski received a new sentence of 1.5 years in prison in addition to the 18-year sentence he is already serving. A verdict on the charge of “disobedience to prison administration” was issued on February 27, reports the Viasna Human Rights Center. Tsikhanouski pleaded not guilty.

A new criminal case against Siarhei Tsikhanouski, allegedly for disobedience to the prison administration and instigating conflicts, was launched in January 2023. The trial started on February 14 and was held in prison. Tsikhanouski, confined to a punishment cell, has endured inhumane conditions for two months.

“It’s not only that he shouldn’t spend these 1.5 years in prison – he should not be behind bars at all. The work of judges and prosecutors who passed this verdict consists only of inventing new ways of repressing Belarusians. It has nothing to do with justice,” Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya commented on her husband’s new sentence.

Siarhei Tsikhanouski played a key role in the run-up to the 2020 protests in Belarus and was the first person to become a political prisoner specifically as a result of these events. Tsikhanouski was arrested in May 2020; in December 2021, he was convicted for, among other things, organizing mass riots and inciting social hatred and sentenced to 18 years in a maximum security penal colony. After a month in the penal colony, Tsikhanouski was transferred to a prison.