Exactly four years ago, during the live broadcast of his stream, Sergei Tsikhanousky was detained. This happened as a result of a provocation at a picket in Grodno. Along with Sergei, his friends and associates were also detained. In the following days, a wave of repressions swept across Belarus. It became a harbinger of the terrible terror that continues to this day.
Four years have passed. Throughout this time, Sergei, like many of his associates, has been behind bars. They were given monstrous prison sentences. A huge number of Belarusians were forced to leave their homeland due to the threat of political persecution.
For more than a year (447 days), the prison authorities have kept Sergei incommunicado, effectively in complete isolation from the outside world. Letters do not reach him, and he has no meetings with lawyers or family members. Additionally, Sergei Tsikhanousky is isolated from other prisoners. This is torture.
We know for certain that the authorities are using the incommunicado regime against at least seven people. Besides Sergei Tsikhanousky, these include Mikola Statkevich, Maxim Znak, Maria Kolesnikova, Igar Losik, Viktar Babarika, and Uladzimir Kniga - people whom the dictator fears the most, and who do not fear him.
Four years ago, Sergei Tsikhanousky knowingly went on that stream. He knew he could be arrested, but he was not afraid to speak out against the criminal authorities. Like other political prisoners, Sergei Tsikhanousky did not think that darkness would engulf Belarus for so long, and that he would not see his wife and children for four long years.
Today, when there are at least fifteen hundred political prisoners in jails across Belarus, and when people are being tortured and killed at the whim of a mad dictator, we must not be afraid either.
Four years have passed. Throughout this time, Sergei, like many of his associates, has been behind bars. They were given monstrous prison sentences. A huge number of Belarusians were forced to leave their homeland due to the threat of political persecution.
For more than a year (447 days), the prison authorities have kept Sergei incommunicado, effectively in complete isolation from the outside world. Letters do not reach him, and he has no meetings with lawyers or family members. Additionally, Sergei Tsikhanousky is isolated from other prisoners. This is torture.
We know for certain that the authorities are using the incommunicado regime against at least seven people. Besides Sergei Tsikhanousky, these include Mikola Statkevich, Maxim Znak, Maria Kolesnikova, Igar Losik, Viktar Babarika, and Uladzimir Kniga - people whom the dictator fears the most, and who do not fear him.
Four years ago, Sergei Tsikhanousky knowingly went on that stream. He knew he could be arrested, but he was not afraid to speak out against the criminal authorities. Like other political prisoners, Sergei Tsikhanousky did not think that darkness would engulf Belarus for so long, and that he would not see his wife and children for four long years.
Today, when there are at least fifteen hundred political prisoners in jails across Belarus, and when people are being tortured and killed at the whim of a mad dictator, we must not be afraid either.
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