VILNIUS, Lithuania (BN24) — Belarusian opposition leader Sergei Tikhanovsky, who had been jailed for more than five years, was released Saturday along with over a dozen political prisoners in a surprise deal hailed as a “symbol of hope” by human rights advocates and Western leaders.
Tikhanovsky’s release, brokered with the help of the United States, marks one of the most significant prisoner releases in Belarus in recent years and signals a potential shift in diplomatic engagement with the country’s long-standing authoritarian regime. His wife, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who launched her political career in 2020 after his arrest, shared a video on social media embracing her husband with the caption: “FREE.”
“It’s hard to describe the joy in my heart,” she wrote on X, formerly Twitter. The couple was reunited in Lithuania, where the released prisoners are receiving care and protection.
The U.S. played a pivotal role in negotiating the release. Tikhanovskaya thanked President Donald Trump, crediting his administration with facilitating the transfer. The announcement came just hours after Trump’s special envoy, Keith Kellogg, met with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk — the most senior U.S. visit to Belarus in years.
Tikhanovsky, 46, had intended to run against Lukashenko in the August 2020 presidential election but was arrested weeks before the vote. His wife, a political novice at the time, stepped into the race, rallying opposition forces and becoming the face of Belarus’s pro-democracy movement.
A charismatic YouTuber and activist, Tikhanovsky gained notoriety for mocking Lukashenko as a “cockroach,” and rallied supporters around the slogan “Stop the Cockroach.” In 2021, he was sentenced to 18 years in prison for charges including “organizing riots” and “inciting hatred,” later receiving an additional 18 months for “insubordination.” He was reportedly held incommunicado, with rumors of his death circulating as recently as 2023.
Video footage released by the Viasna Human Rights Center on Saturday showed a visibly altered Tikhanovsky—shaved head, emaciated face—as he stepped out of detention for the first time in years.
Among the other 13 freed detainees were Radio Liberty journalist Igor Karnei, jailed in 2023 for alleged ties to an “extremist” group, and Galina Krasnyanskaya, a Swedish-Belarusian citizen accused of supporting Ukraine. They were all transferred to Lithuania, according to Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys.
Belarus remains one of Europe’s most repressive states, still holding over 1,000 political prisoners, according to Viasna. Lukashenko, who has ruled since 1994, has outlawed all opposition parties and continues to be the only European leader to enforce the death penalty.
The release follows growing U.S.-Russia détente under President Trump, who has ended efforts to isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin and reopened back-channel negotiations with Kremlin allies, including Lukashenko.
European leaders welcomed the move but emphasized the broader crisis of political repression in Belarus.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the release “fantastic news and a powerful symbol of hope” and urged Minsk to release all remaining political detainees.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul echoed that sentiment, calling Tikhanovsky’s release “fantastically good news” but stressing, “Lukashenko must finally release them all.”
Former Belarusian Culture Minister Pavel Latushko, now an exiled opposition figure, described the event as an “important moment” but insisted that those freed had been “jailed illegally.”
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski added: “The free world needs Tikhanovsky. My sincerest joy goes out to Svetlana and your entire family.”
Tikhanovsky’s release is widely seen as a rare moment of hope for Belarus’s democratic movement—one that still faces daunting challenges under Lukashenko’s firm grip on power.
