Cichanoŭskaja says new trial won’t crush her jailed husband

February 1, BPN. Belarusian opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja says her husband, jailed activist Siarhiej Cichanoŭski, will stand another trial for not bowing to pressure.

“One of the worst violations in the regime’s prisons is not to succumb, not to fear, not to become mediocre and not to hide behind others. For it, the regime announced another ‘trial’ against my husband Siarhiej. It is possible that they really believe that they can tame him this way and make him like them,” she said on Telegram.

She added that Cichanoŭski will never cease to be an appealing leader, no matter what prison term he is sentenced to.

Former presidential hopeful Siarhiej Cichanoŭski will go on a new trial on February 14 on charges of malicious disobedience to the prison authorities, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported.

Investigators say that he “systematically disobeyed the legitimate demands of the prison administration, provoked conflicts, including with other prisoners, and was repeatedly punished for this.”

Judge Ivan Hrynkievič from Žodzina, Minsk region, will preside over the proceedings.

In December 2021, authorities sentenced Cichanoŭski to 18 years in a high-security penal colony. In August 2022, a court in Mahiloŭ ruled to transfer him to prison for the next three years.

Other defendants in the Cichanoŭski case were given lengthy prison sentences for alleged rioting, inciting social hatred and discord and obstructing the work of the central election commission.

In June 2022, the Committee for State Security (KGB) added Cichanoŭski to the list of persons involved in “terrorist activities.”

Human rights defenders say his persecution is politically motivated.