He comes down from car, emaciated, his skull shaved, but a large smile on his face. A step and here he embers Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa, his wife whom he has not hugged in his arms since his arrest, five years ago. For a few seconds, the couple is alone in the world. Sergei clumsily tries to hide his face with the papers he holds in his hand. We guess the tears that are rushing. The applause crackles, the thirteen other prisoners, released at the same time as him, descend one by one of the vehicle which brought them here, in Vilnius, in the European Union, in security.
It is the NGO Viasna, who takes care of political prisoners in Bélarus, who announced on Saturday June 21 the liberation of Sergei Tikhanovski and thirteen other political prisoners. In total, five Belarusses, three Poles, two Lithuanians, two Japanese, an Estonian and a Swedish who have been released and who are now “Safety in Lithuania and receive appropriate care. The role of the United States in this release has been decisive ”, The Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kestis Budrys. A little later, Saturday evening, spokesperson for the presidency Bélarusian, Natalia Eismont, confirmed the intervention of Washington. “The president [Loukachenko] decided to pardon 14 convicted. It was a request from the President of the United States ”she said to the Russian agency Tass. The release of political prisoners was negotiated and obtained by Keith Kellogg, special envoy to the United States government, said the spokesman for the Lithuanian Prime Minister. Keith Kellogg had met President Alexandre Loukachenko, according to Belta, the Bélarusse agency.
“He’s near me, with the children. Our family dreamed of this for five years (…) ”, she added on Telegram.
Among the 13 other released prisoners are Ihar Karnei, journalist from Radio Free Europe /Radio Liberty, but also a university professor, a businessman and an anarchist activist, according to the Bélarusian NGO of human rights Viasna, herself persecuted by power. Citizen Suédo-Bélarusian Galina Krasnyanskaya, arrested in 2023 for accusations of support for Ukraine, was also released, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf KrisSson announced.
A few minutes after the announcement of the release of Sergei Tikhanovski, his wife thanked the American president, Donald Trump, and the European Union for the release of her husband after five years in prison. “It’s hard to describe joy in my heart”she wrote on X. “We haven’t finished it. 1,150 political prisoners remain behind bars. They must all be released ”she added. Before writing a little later on Telegram: “He’s near me, with the children. Our family dreamed of this for five years ”.
Blogger Tikhanovski, 46, was arrested in May 2020 shortly before declaring his candidacy for the presidential election in the midst of unprecedented agitation, marked by historical opposition demonstrations, followed by a great wave of repression led by the power of President Alexandre Loukachenko.
After his arrest, his wife Svetlana had taken over the torch of the opposition during the presidential campaign and led a dynamic and exciting campaign alongside two other women, Maria Kolesnikova and Veronika TSepkalo, on the simple promise of change. All summer 2020, mass demonstrations, bringing together more than 200,000 angry citizens, had invaded the streets of Minsk and other cities.
On August 9, 2020, Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa had refused to recognize the manifestly rigged result of the presidential election who had once again brought the Lukachenko autocrat in power, who then proclaimed to have won 80 % of the votes. He then embarked on a huge wave of repression against the opposition.
With their two children, Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa had then fled the Bélarus and took refuge in Lithuania. Since then, she has become the official image of the opposition in exile and notably received the Sakharov Prize in 2020. As for Tikhanovski, he had been sentenced to eighteen years in prison, after the election, in 2021, during a political trial where he had been accused of“Incituration of hatred and disorders”.
The violent repression of the Loukachenko regime had accelerated its isolation from European countries and brought it closer to Vladimir Putin, with whom he behaves in vassal. To the point that in February 2022, the Bélarus had served as a launch ramp for the Russian troops to invade Ukraine. For the past year, the regime has however released more than 250 political prisoners, even if some of the best known, such as Maria Kolesnikova or Viktor Babariko still have been locked up.
In January, Alexandre Loukachenko was re -elected president for the seventh time, for a new five -year term, with a score of more than 87 % of the votes and after having stifled all hints of dissent, during a ballot once again denounced as completely tampered.
Shortly after the announcement of the prisoner release, congratulating and relief messages began to rain. The German Minister of Foreign Affairs, Johann Wadephul, praised the liberation of Sergei Tikhanovski on Saturday, while calling for “Do not forget” The many other political prisoners. “It is a fantastic news that it is finally free”, He wrote on the social network X. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also welcomed these liberation. “This is a fantastic news and a symbol of powerful hope for all political prisoners who suffer under the brutal regime of Loukachenko.” “Europe continues to call for their immediate release”she wrote on X.
Updated on 06/21/2025 at 6:18 p.m. with details of the liberation conditions and first reactions. And at 10:21 p.m. With new details on the role of Trump.
