Sarah Rainsford speaks to Belarussian opposition activist Sergei Tikhanovsky about his imprisonment after challenging the country’s authoritarian leader, President Lukashenko. He spent five years of solitary confinement in a high security prison in Belarus before being unexpectedly released this year, following a meeting between Lukashenko and an American special envoy.

Tikhanovsky had planned to run against the Belarussian leader in the 2020 presidential election, but was detained before the vote.

A year later, he was sentenced to serve 18 years in prison, convicted on charges of organising mass protests against President Lukashenko. His trial was condemned as a sham by international observers.

Tikhanovsky’s wife, Svetlana, stood in for him in the 2020 election. But the day after Lukashenko claimed a disputed victory, she fled to Lithuania with her children fearing for her safety. In her absence, she was convicted by a Belarussian court on charges including high-treason and conspiracy to seize power.

Tikhanovsky is now reunited with his family in Lithuania, where he is living in enforced exile following his release from prison.

Thank you to Sarah Rainsford, Davide Ghiglione and Franceso Tosto for their help in making this programme. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service, Mondays and Wednesdays at 0700 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out twice a week on BBC Sounds, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Sarah Rainsford Producers: Lucy Sheppard, Ben Cooper and Arsenii Sokolov Editor: Damon Rose

Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.

(Image: Sergei Tikhanovsky. Credit: Valda Kalnina/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)

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