Sergei Tikhanovsky Emerges From Belarus Prison, Unbroken After Five Years

Former Belarusian political prisoner, Sergei Tikhanovsky, has shared his harrowing experiences of incarceration following his unexpected release after five years. Speaking in Vilnius, he described the emotional reunification with his family and the torturous conditions he endured during his time in solitary confinement. Having experienced significant physical deterioration, he remains unbroken in his resolve to advocate for democracy in Belarus. Tikhanovsky's release came after diplomatic interventions, prompting questions about the future of political prisoners in his homeland as he reflects on the continued oppression under President Lukashenko's regime.

Sergei Tikhanovsky has barely spoken for more than five years. All that time he was held in solitary confinement in a high-security Belarusian prison for daring to stand up to a dictator. Now the former opposition blogger is free, and words stream out of him so quickly that his thoughts sometimes struggle to keep up. "The restriction on speaking was the hardest thing," Sergei confided when we met in Vilnius very soon after his surprise release. "When you can't say or write anything, you can't talk to anyone and you're just trapped in a cell – that's the toughest thing – not the restriction on movement."

Sergei is now in enforced exile, freed along with 13 other political prisoners after a senior U.S. delegation paid a rare visit to the authoritarian ruler of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko. When I ask about the reunion with his family, Sergei lifts a hand to his face and weeps. His daughter was only four when he was arrested. "She didn't recognise me," he manages eventually, after a long pause. "Then she threw herself into my arms and we hugged for a long time."

Sergei's transformation since his arrest is shocking. Back in 2020, he was stocky and bearded. Now the face beneath his close-shaven head is gaunt. He says he's lost almost 60kg (132 pounds) in jail, where he spent endless weeks in punishment cells. "Physically I'm half the size and half the weight," Sergei says. "But my spirit is not broken. Maybe it's even stronger. Before I'd only heard of the crimes of this regime, but now I've seen them first-hand and we have to fight that."

Until last week, Sergei Tikhanovsky was one of the most prominent political prisoners in Belarus. Ahead of the 2020 presidential election, he developed a significant YouTube following by filming candid interviews about people's complaints and problems. Then he tried to register to run himself, waving a giant slipper and calling on Belarusians to "Stop the Cockroach!" "I was using the chance to show that it's impossible to win democratically in Belarus," Sergei explains. "I wanted to show that the elections are fake, and they arrested me." Following his arrest, his wife, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, took up his mantle and ran for the presidency, inciting widespread protests after Lukashenko's claimed victory, which led to mass arrests.

In prison, Sergei was constantly singled out for ill treatment along with other prominent figures – "the ones they think are most dangerous, or who they want to destroy," as he puts it. "For the last two-and-a-half years, I was in total isolation. I didn't get a single letter in almost three years. For almost three years, they didn't let me have any phone calls," he reveals. He wasn't even allowed to see a priest. "They'd say: you will die in prison. We are going to keep extending your time and you won't get out," he recounts.

To cope, he had to empty his brain of all thoughts of family and friends. "You have to put that to one side," he says. "Because if you think about how they are and what's happening to them, you won't survive." His plight took a turn last August when he started to hope for release after the deputy prosecutor began touring prisons and suggesting political detainees "write to the dictator and request his pardon," a strategy Sergei refused, stating, "I am no criminal."

Last week, the United States intervened, and following a meeting with U.S. Special Envoy Keith Kellogg, Sergei was released along with others. For Lukashenko, the meeting represented a diplomatic win, looking to re-establish dialogue after years of international isolation.

Sergei expressed a profound desire for the release of all political prisoners, currently numbering over 1,000. In tears, he spoke of a recent encounter with a fellow inmate who looked unrecognizable. "I'd give anything to get them all out," he says, emphasizing the cost of their freedom mustn't involve lifting sanctions against the regime.

In the whirlwind of his newfound freedom, Sergei and his wife, now the leader of the opposition, are cautiously optimistic. She warns against relaxing sanctions too soon, pointing out continued state repression. With his children finally returned to him, Sergei intends to navigate this new chapter carefully while pressing forward for democracy in Belarus, assuredly stating, "I just need a democratic Belarus."