Sergei Tikhanovsky: Belarus will be free

Sarah Rainsford speaks to Belarussian opposition activist Sergei
Tikhanovsky about his imprisonment after challenging the
country’s authoritarian leader, President Lukashenko. He spent
five years of solitary confinement in a high security prison in
Belarus before being unexpectedly released this year, following a
meeting between Lukashenko and an American special envoy.


Tikhanovsky had planned to run against the Belarussian leader in
the 2020 presidential election, but was detained before the vote.


A year later, he was sentenced to serve 18 years in prison,
convicted on charges of organising mass protests against
President Lukashenko. His trial was condemned as a sham by
international observers.


Tikhanovsky’s wife, Svetlana, stood in for him in the 2020
election. But the day after Lukashenko claimed a disputed
victory, she fled to Lithuania with her children fearing for her
safety. In her absence, she was convicted by a Belarussian court
on charges including high-treason and conspiracy to seize power.


Tikhanovsky is now reunited with his family in Lithuania, where
he is living in enforced exile following his release from prison.


Thank you to Sarah Rainsford, Davide Ghiglione and Franceso Tosto
for their help in making this programme. The Interview brings you
conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the
world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the
BBC World Service, Mondays and Wednesdays at 0700 GMT. Or you can
listen to The Interview as a podcast, out twice a week on BBC
Sounds, or wherever you get your podcasts.


Presenter: Sarah Rainsford Producers: Lucy Sheppard, Ben Cooper
and Arsenii Sokolov Editor: Damon Rose


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(Image: Sergei Tikhanovsky. Credit: Valda
Kalnina/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)