The husband of Belarus'opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was sentenced to 18 years in jail for organising mass unrest and inciting social hatred, according to the official Belta news agency.
Five supporters tried with Tsikhanouski were jailed for 14 -- 16 years.
Tsikhanouski, a video blogger, was jailed in May 2020 as he prepared to run in August 2020 against the Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko. He denied the charges. His wife stood in his place in the election, which led to months of mass protests after Lukashenko claimed a landslide victory and the opposition accused him of rigging the ballot.
A few hours before the verdict was pronounced, Tsikhanouskaya called it illegal and should not be tolerated. Commenting on the so-called verdict I will ask myself only one question: What will I do with this news? She said in a video message that she will continue to defend the person I love, who has become a leader for millions of Belarusians. I am trying to do something very difficult, perhaps impossible, in order to bring closer to the moment when we will see him in the new Belarus. After the election, Tsikhanouskaya fled to neighbouring Lithuania to escape a sweeping crackdown. She has met an array of western leaders and gained a lot of attention.
Her husband's trial was closed to the public, and lawyers were banned from divulging details of the case.
In July, a Belarusian court jailed former presidential candidate Viktor Babariko for 14 years after he was convicted of corruption, charges he denied. In September, Maria Kolesnikova, one of the leaders of the mass street protests against Lukashenko, was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
More than 35,000 people had been arbitrarily detained over the past year and tens of thousands of Belarusians had fled abroad, fearing repression, according to the UN special rapporteur, Ana s Marin.