Tsikhanouski, 46, was freed last week along with 13 other political prisoners after US envoy Keith Kellogg met Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.
“Physically I’m half the size, but my spirit is stronger,” Tsikhanouski told BBC in Vilnius, where he is now in exile.
Arrested in 2020 after trying to run against Lukashenko, the YouTuber built a large following by filming Belarusians’ grievances and urging them to “Stop the Cockroach.” His detention triggered his wife Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's presidential bid, mass protests and a sweeping crackdown.
Tsikhanouski described torture and near-total isolation: no letters for almost three years, no phone calls, no priest, and repeated stints in a three-by-two-meter punishment cell with a hole in the floor for a toilet.
“They said: ‘You will die in prison,’” he recalled, wiping away tears when asked about reuniting with his daughter, now eight. “She didn’t recognize me […] Then she threw herself into my arms and we hugged for a long time”.
He refused to seek a pardon, calling it “a betrayal.” Lukashenko, he said, gained diplomatic “contact with the U.S.” in exchange for the releases. The opposition counts more than 1,000 political detainees and warns that arrests continue.
Tsikhanouskaya welcomed her husband’s freedom but urged Washington to keep sanctions until repression ends. “For 14 people released, 28 were detained,” she said.
Tsikhanouski has spent his first week meeting politicians, addressing supporters and catching up with his children.
“I don’t claim Sviatlana’s role,” he added. “I just need a democratic Belarus.”
(jh)
Source: BBC