After five years in prison, the opposition figure Tikhanovsky speaks

Sergey Tikhanskki barely spoke for more than five years.

At all this time, he was held in solitary confinement in a high security prison prison for his audacity to stand in front of a dictator.

Now the former opposition blogger is free, and the words flow from it so quickly that his ideas are sometimes struggling to keep up with it.

“The restriction of speaking was the most difficult thing,” Sergey said when we met Felnnos shortly after his sudden launch.

“When you cannot say or write anything, you cannot talk to anyone while you are besieged in a cell – this is the most difficult thing – and not restrictions on movement.”

Sergey is now in forced exile, he was released with 13 other political prisoners after a large American delegation made a rare visit to the authoritarian ruler of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko.

When I ask about reunification with his family, Sergey raises his hand on his face and cries.

His fourth daughter was only when he was arrested.

“She did not get to know me,” at the end, after a long hiatus. “Then she threw herself in my arms and embraced us for a long time.”

Sergey has been shocked since his arrest.

Once again in 2020 he was full and bearded. Now the face under his head is the near throat is death. He says he lost approximately 60 kg (132 ribbons) in prison, where he spent ending weeks in punishment cells.

“Physically, I am half the size and half of the weight,” says Sergey. “But my soul was not broken. It may be stronger.”

“Before I only hear about the crimes of this system, but now I saw it directly and we have to fight it.”

Until last week, Sergey Tikhanovsky was one of the most prominent political prisoners in Belarus.

Before the 2020 presidential election, YouTube developed a great photography of people’s complaints and problems.

Then he tried to register to operate himself, wave the giant people and call the Belarusians to “stop cockroaches!”

“I was using the opportunity to show that it was impossible to win democratically in Belarus,” Sergey explains. “I wanted to make it clear that the elections were fake, and they arrested me.”

When his wife, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, continued to run in place, she attracted huge crowds. After Lukashenko claimed another unreasonable victory, those crowds became a mass protest of mass cars that soon became collective arrests.

In prison, Sergey has been constantly distinguished for bad treatment like other prominent characters-“those they think are the most dangerous, or who want to destroy them,” as he puts it.

“Over two and a half years last year, I was in complete isolation. I haven’t got one message for nearly three years. For almost three years they did not allow me to make any phone calls,” he says.

He was not allowed even to see a priest.

“They will say: You will die in prison. We will continue to extend your time and you will not go out.”

Matte the clay is more frequently sent to a punishment cell – to obtain a mark on the wall or the stray spider.

“These cells can be three meters, including a hole in the floor for a toilet,” he recalls. “No rank, no paper or cushions.”

He woke up every hour during the night to maintain groups of squatting and sitting, then lying on the wooden bed until his arms and legs were seized, and he had to start the exercises again.

To deal, he had to empty his brain from all the ideas of the family and friends.

He says, “You have to put it on one side.” “Because if you are thinking about how they are and what happens to them, you will not survive.”

It was last August when Sergey began to think it might come out.

And that is when the Deputy Prosecutor began a tour of prisons and “seriously recommend” that political detainees “write to the dictator and ask for pardon” as Sergey puts it.

Lukashenko was suddenly eager for the Most Gracious appearance and dozens of dozens were released.

Sergey and other big names, such as VikTor Babaryka and Maria Kolesnikova, were not on any lists.

But he never enjoyed the idea of ​​confession, even to return to his children.

“I am not a criminal,” explains. “This will be a betrayal of all those who support me.”

Then last week the United States intervened.

When the special envoy Keith Kelog traveled to Minsk to mediate the American citizens in prison, he also appeared with Sergey.

For Lukashenko, the meeting with Kelogg was a major diplomatic victory.

It has been reported by Western countries since the suppression of peaceful protests in 2020.

His active support for Russia in the conquest of Ukraine is still more.

“Now Lukashenko can show some cooperation, a dialogue with the United States,” says Sergey.

“This was the price: the beginning of contact with him. Because no one was participating.”

Sergey does not want more than the release of all other political prisoners as well. There are more than 1000 in total.

In crying, he describes the recent “old man” interview that turned into a young friend, whose age ranges from prison.

“I will give anything to take them out all of them,” says Sergey. “I think we should pay any price. But I don’t want them to drop all the sanctions.”

Sergey’s wife, who is now the leader of the opposition, is happy to return with her and their children. But Svetlana tells me that she is cautious about the next American move.

“We cannot soften the penalties until the oppression stops completely,” she says. “For 14 people were released, 28 others were immediately held in Belarus. For Lukashenko, there is no change in politics.”

The first week of Sergei’s freedom has gone through a cycle of activity. He met politicians, gave letters and wrote to Donald Trump thanked him. He was chasing a lost time with his children – as well as all the news he lost in isolation from others.

But what about his ambitions? The last time he and Svitlana were together, she was a housewife and was a political. Can there be tensions?

“I have no allegations of its role,” Sergey insists. “You don’t need this. I just need a democratic Belarus.”