A Belarusian YouTuber who attempted to run against Alexander Lukashenko in last year's presidential election has been jailed for 18 years for 'organising mass unrest and inciting social hatred'.
Syarhei Tsikhanouski, the husband of prominent and exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, was sent to a 'maximum security colony' in what is widely seen as a retaliatory move by Lukashenko - who is often dubbed 'Europe's last dictator' due to his authoritarian style of government.
It comes after his regime was accused of staging a fake bomb threat earlier this year to force a commercial Ryanair flight - which was carrying a dissident journalist - to land in Minsk, allowing Belarusian forces to arrest him.
The close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin is also accused of purposefully causing the ongoing border crisis in Eastern Europe by encouraging tens of thousands of migrants to travel to Belarus's borders with Poland, Latvia and Lithuania.
Mr Tsikhanouski, who was arrested and jailed in May last year when his popularity with the voting public began to swell, was sentenced at the Gomel regional court on Tuesday following a 173-day trial. He had denied the charges.
His wife, speaking from exile in Lithuania, where she resides with their two children, branded the verdict 'revenge' as she vowed to continue trying to remove Lukashenko, 67, who is the continent's longest-serving president, having taken power in 1994.
Syarhei Tsikhanouski, the husband of prominent and exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (pictured holding his photo), was sent to a 'maximum security colony' in what is widely seen as a retaliatory move by Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko - who is often dubbed 'Europe's last dictator' due to his authoritarian style of government
Lukashenko (pictured), a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is also accused of purposefully causing the ongoing border crisis in Eastern Europe by encouraging tens of thousands of migrants to travel to Belarus's borders with Poland, Latvia and Lithuania
Belarusian blogger Sergei Tikhanovsky (front), husband of former Belarusian presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya,
