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EXCLUSIVE — Belarusian dissident Siarhei Tsikhanouski is free after spending greater than 5 years as a political prisoner, and now he’s calling for these nonetheless behind bars to be launched.
In a video message performed earlier than the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday, Tsikhanouski makes a determined plea for worldwide intervention.
“I used to be tortured, I used to be held in solitary confinement, I used to be frozen. I wasn’t even given a pen to put in writing a couple of phrases. For years, I did not obtain a single letter, not even from my daughter. They crammed my ears with lies and propaganda. They tried to persuade me that everybody had forgotten me. What is going on in Belarusian prisons will not be legislation enforcement. It’s torture, abuse, and the destruction of human beings. Persons are actually being killed behind bars,” Tsikhanouski stated within the video, which was offered to Fox Information Digital by UN Watch.
Siarhei Tsikhanouski requires worldwide motion in his video message to the United Nations.
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Tsikhanouski credited the worldwide group — particularly the Trump administration — for his launch, which was secured after U.S. Particular Envoy on Ukraine and Russia Gen. Keith Kellogg met with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. Along with Tsikhanouski, 13 different political prisoners have been launched by way of U.S. mediation.
The Belarusian dissident stated within the video that he wouldn’t have made it out alive if it weren’t for “worldwide solidarity” and “the efforts of the USA administration.”
Belarus opposition chief Syarhei Tsikhanouski hugs his spouse Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya after he was launched from jail, on this screengrab taken from a social media video launched on June 21, 2025. (Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya by way of X/by way of Reuters)
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In his first deal with as U.N. particular rapporteur on the state of affairs of human rights in Belarus, Nils Muižnieks warned that, since Jan. 2025, the human rights state of affairs has “continued to deteriorate.” He additionally famous that authorities in Belarus have abused “extremely problematic” laws, together with a prohibition on insulting the president or different public officers.
“Belarus has a really massive variety of individuals behind bars who shouldn’t be there, together with opposition politicians, human rights defenders, journalists, impartial commerce union activists, environmental defenders and legal professionals,” Muižnieks stated earlier than Tsikhanouski’s video was performed. He additionally described the ill-treatment of prisoners by Belarusian authorities.
After the council heard Tsikhanouski’s message, Muižnieks stated that the recently-freed dissident’s phrases “carry further weight.”
Following his launch, Tsikhanouski was reunited together with his spouse, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, and their youngsters in Lithuania. Tsikhanouskaya is the exiled Belarusian opposition chief whom some international locations acknowledge because the president-elect.
Tsikhanouskaya thanked President Donald Trump, Kellogg and the State Division for his or her efforts, which led to her husband’s freedom.
“My husband Siarhei is free! It’s arduous to explain the enjoyment in my coronary heart,” Tsikhanouskaya wrote on X. “We’re not performed. 1,150 political prisoners stay behind bars. All have to be launched.”
Siarhei Tsikhanouski, a Belarusian opposition activist launched from a jail by Belarusian authorities, speaks throughout an interview with The Related Press in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP Picture/Mindaugas Kulbis)
UN Watch Government Director Hillel Neuer joined the decision to see the remaining 1,150 prisoners achieve their freedom.
“Siarhei Tsikhanouski is an emblem of braveness who paid a heavy worth for daring to problem Lukashenko’s dictatorship. United Nations Watch is honored to present him the ground on the UN Human Rights Council simply days after his launch from jail. His voice, silenced by the regime for greater than 5 years as he was tortured in jail, now speaks for thousands and thousands of Belarusians who proceed to demand freedom and human rights,” Neuer advised Fox Information Digital.
Neuer stated Tsikhanouski’s message to the U.N. was “a direct problem to the regimes that proceed to silence their critics.”
A freed Siarhei Tsikhanouski holds a photograph of himself taken earlier than he was held behind bars for greater than 5 years. (Workplace of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya by way of X)
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Thursday, June 26, additionally marks the Worldwide Day in Help of Victims of Torture. Tsikhanouskaya wrote on X to mark the event and shared a photograph illustrating the consequences that 5 years in jail had on her husband.
“Right this moment is the Worldwide Day in Help of Victims of Torture. My husband survived 5 years of isolation and cruelty within the Belarus regime’s prisons. Many others nonetheless endure it. If we had given up, Siarhei wouldn’t be free. That’s why we maintain going—till everyone seems to be dwelling,” Tsikhanouskaya wrote.
According to NPR, Tsikhanouski misplaced greater than 41% of his physique weight. He went into jail weighing 298 kilos however weighed simply 174 kilos when he was launched on June 21.
In response to a request for touch upon Tsikhanouski’s assertion, UN Human Rights Council spokesperson Pascal Sim directed Fox Information Digital to a recording of the listening to, significantly Muižnieks’ remarks.
The U.N. Human Rights Workplace additionally directed Fox Information Digital to Muižnieks’ assertion.
