Belarusian politician and opposition figure Sergei Tikhanovsky, husband of opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, has been charged with disobedience to the staff of model 8 of the Zhodino penitentiary center, northeast of the capital Minsk.
According to BelTA news agency, Tikhanovsky not only failed to comply with the orders of prison staff, but was also rude and impolite to them and even caused conflicts and clashes between his fellow inmates.
According to the Belarusian authorities, Tikhanovsky repeatedly violated the internal rules of the penitentiary center, which led to successive sanctions and for which he was included in the list of inmates prone to extremist and conflictive activities.
For these reasons, the Investigative Committee of the Zhodino locality has criminally charged the opponent with «malicious disobedience to the requirements of the administration of a correctional institution executing a prison sentence», in accordance with Article 411 of the Criminal Code.
Tikhanovsky was arrested in 2020 in the city of Grodno for allegedly organizing mass riots after attempting to register as a candidate for the controversial presidential elections held that same year that resulted in victory for the president, Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994.
The blogger was then unable to register his candidacy and instead it was his wife who filed the documents and contested the elections. However, several of his supporters were also arrested.
At the end of June 2022, the Belarusian Intelligence Service included him on its list of persons linked to terrorism.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
