This is Siarhei Tsikhanouski, husband of opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. The Belarusian regime imprisoned Tsikhanouski after he tried running for the presidency against the incumbent, Alexander Lukashenko.
This imprisonment prompted his wife, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, to run instead. The results of that August 2020 election are widely considered to be fraudulent.
Vladimir Milov, a Russian opposition politician and ally of Alexei Navalny, told the European Parliament back in November 2020 that the Belarusian regime did not even pretend to count the votes: instead, they read out a pre-arranged result.
As a result, thousands of Belarusians protested, and have since faced unimaginable waves of repression and brutality. Tsikhanouskaya was threatened with losing the custody of her children, one of the reasons why she and her allies fled Belarus for Lithuania.
Today, her husband remains in prison. On 29 May, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya sent the following message on Twitter:
My husband, Siarhei Tsikhanouski, was imprisoned by the regime exactly one year ago. Determined, courageous, with a wish to change the future of his country – like millions of Belarusians. Our kids and I miss Siarhei every day. But we believe, we can, we will win. Жыве Беларусь!
Free Siarhei Tsikhanouski, Roman Protasevich, and all political prisoners!
Свободу вcем политичеcким заключённым!
