The exiled opposition leader of Belarus, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, has revealed that she has not heard from her imprisoned husband for 421 days. Siarhei Tsikhanouski has been behind bars since 2020 after announcing plans to challenge authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. Tsikhanouskaya, who ran in his place as the main opposition candidate, was forced to leave the country after the election. She expressed concerns about the treatment of her husband, stating that holding him incommunicado is part of the government’s repressive policies to make him feel forgotten.
In addition to Tsikhanouski, several other top opposition figures in Belarus have also been held incommunicado for over a year. Maria Kolesnikova, a leading opposition figure serving an 11-year prison sentence, has not been heard from for 443 days. Mikola Statkevich, an opposition activist, has been out of contact with his relatives for 448 days, and lawyer Maxim Znak has been held incommunicado for 449 days. Tsikhanouskaya emphasized the importance of speaking out about these individuals and providing support in any way possible.
The August 2020 election in Belarus, which resulted in Lukashenko winning his sixth term in office, was widely condemned as fraudulent by the West and the opposition. This led to a massive wave of protests, which were met with a violent crackdown by authorities. Thousands of people were arrested, with many being brutally beaten by police. Numerous top opposition figures were detained and given lengthy prison terms, while others were forced to flee the country. Despite U.N. requests for information, the Belarusian authorities have failed to provide updates on the status of the jailed opposition activists.
Belarus’ leading human rights group Viasna has identified approximately 1,400 political prisoners in the country, including the group’s founder, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski. A representative from Viasna, Pavel Sapelka, highlighted the impact of holding opposition activists incommunicado, describing it as a form of torture not only for the prisoners but also for their families. He suggested that this tactic is part of a broader strategy to punish political opponents and conceal evidence of mistreatment and torture. The situation indicates a troubling trend of human rights abuses in Belarus that has caught the attention of international observers.
