Svetlana Tikhanovska, the leader of the Belarusian opposition in exile, was sentenced in absentia to 15 years of imprisonment, the state news agency BelTA reported today, as quoted by Reuters.
Tsihanovska, 40, left Belarus after running against longtime head of state Alexander Lukashenko in the 2020 presidential election. After the election, large protests erupted, with the opposition accusing Lukashenko of winning by fraud, which he denied.
In January, Belarus began a trial in absentia against Tikhanovskaya on charges of treason, which her supporters dismissed as a farce.
Poland considers it necessary to impose new sanctions against the Belarusian authorities over the sentencing in absentia of former presidential candidate Svetlana Tsikhanowska and other opposition representatives who are in exile abroad, Polish government spokesman Piotr Muller said.
“These recent show trials and the sentencing of various people only show that long-term action needs to be taken against Belarus, unfortunately, when it comes to international sanctions,” he said.
According to Mueller, Poland has asked the European Council to “expand the sanctions that are now in force against Russia” and include Belarus in their scope. “This is about economic sanctions. We think that Belarus should be covered by such sanctions,” he explained.
Mueller added that Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki also used “European channels to call for all people involved in show trials in Belarus – prosecutors, judges and others – to be put on sanctions lists”.
