The husband of the opposition leader of Belarus Trump urges the liberation of other prisoners

Sergey Tikhanovsky, the husband of the opposition leader of Belarus, called on US President Donald Trump to “say the word” and ask all political prisoners in Belarus to release them.

The opposition activist was released unexpectedly on Saturday and unified with his wife in Lithuania. Thirteen political prisoners were released and forced to exile.

The move came when the US special envoy Keith Keel traveled to Minsk, the Belarusian capital, and he met the authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko.

It was the first high -level American visit in many years.

At an emotional press conference a day after his release, Tijhanovsky collapsed with tears, describing his five years in solitary confinement and called for freedom of more than 1,000 political prisoners who are still behind the bars.

He was arrested in 2020 and plans to run for the presidency against Lukashenko in the summer elections.

He was imprisoned for 18 years in 2021 after a court convicted him of mobilizing mass protests against Lukashenko, among other political charges.

As a prominent opposition figure, Tijhanovsky said he had been detained in what he described as a “strict system”, inverted from all contact with the outside world.

“Do not even get messages, not one call. For five years, I couldn’t even go to a priest. No messages, no calls, no priest, no lawyer,” he said.

Then he started sighing.

“It is a nightmare,” he said. “You ask about torture. Is this not torture? The killers get watching TV in prison, they have everything. But I did not get messages. Or soap. Or a toothbrush.”

He barely spoke to anyone other than the prison guards for years and Sunday sometimes struggle for words.

“How can they do that? You (the regime) consider us criminals. But we have rights,” he said.

“He is inhuman. It is a nightmare. They must stop this. We have to get people out.”

He called on the American President for more help.

“Trump has such a authority and such possibilities, so that one word can liberate all political prisoners. I ask him to say this word now.”

His wife, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, wiped her tears as he was talking. Earlier, she described her “personal hero”.

She also described how her daughter did not recognize her father because he changed a lot in prison and lost a lot of weight.

She said that Lukashenko did not receive only one of the American administration in exchange for the release of prisoners on Saturday – the visit of the American envoy Kilj.

He can present this as a diplomatic leader after years of political isolation to suppress the local opposition and support Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine.

But Tijhanovsky said what Paralosia wants more is the removal of US sanctions.

Before his arrest, Tijhanovsky was an explicit colored figure who had a great follow -up in Belarus on social media.

Video blogger and activist used to summon people to “stop cockroaches”, referring to Lukashenko, and they will tour the country to meet people in the city’s squares and villages in the city to hear their concerns.

After his arrest in 2020, his wife intervened to run for the presidency in the August elections.

When Lukashenko declared another victory in the landslides, its supporters immersed the streets in the biggest protests that Belarus has ever known.

They were crushed without mercy, and Tikhanovskaya was forced to flee the country.

“The opposition leader is Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, my wife, and I do not pretend anything,” Tikhanski explained on Sunday, and insisted that he had no intention to take the leadership of the intercourse abroad.

Earlier, he had raised the grip of the challenge.

“I want to say to all Belarus – if you are waiting for a symbol, this is the case,” he said, and urge them to stand in Lukashenko.

He said he did not regret anything he did – despite the treatment he received as a result.

But he added that his release from prison saved his life, because he had not survived his complete punishment behind bars in such circumstances.

It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of Belarus have left their country since the brutal campaign against widespread opposition protests in 2020.

Tens of thousands of people in the country have been arrested in the past five years for political reasons, according to the Viasna Human Rights Group.