Leader of Belarusian Opposition Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison

A Belarusian "court" has sentenced opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya to 15 years in prison in the case of the Coordination Council of Belarus [non-governmental body created by Tsikhanouskaya to facilitate a democratic transfer of power in Belarus – ed.].

Belarus-aligned news outlet BelTa noted that all the defendants were found guilty of "conspiracy to seize state power by unconstitutional means; creation of an extremist formation and leadership of such a formation; public calls for the seizure of state power and other actions aimed at harming the national security of Belarus, in particular, the application of restrictive measures against Belarus".

They were also found guilty of intentional actions aimed at inciting alleged "social hatred".

Another member of the coordinating council was sentenced to 18 years.

During the 2020 protests in Belarus, the opposition formed a coordination council and demanded re-elections.

Lukashenko then declared that he would not give up power because "that is not the thing the people elected him for" and held a secret inauguration.

Tsikhanouskaya established a collective executive body, the United Transitional Cabinet (Ukr) last year and offered Zelenskyy to establish diplomatic relations with it.