(Read the full article on SVOBODA.ORG)

A court in Gomel sentenced the husband of presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya Sergei to 18 years in a maximum security colony. 

Five more accused were convicted in this case, they received from 14 to 16 years, the Belarusian service of Radio Liberty reports . All of them were found guilty of organizing mass riots, which the court considered protests against the results of the presidential elections.

Tikhanovsky is a video blogger, author of the Country for Life channel, which actively criticized President Alexander Lukashenko. Initially, he himself planned to take part in the elections, but was detained and arrested before being nominated. After that, his wife ran for the elections.

According to official count, she came second in the elections after Lukashenka with 10 percent of the vote. He is said to have scored over 80 percent. Independent experts are sure that there were several times fewer votes for Lukashenka, and more for Tikhanovskaya. This could have allowed an opposition candidate to take part in the second round of elections.

Among those convicted in Gomel is a freelance consultant of the Belarusian Service of the RS Igor Losik. He was sentenced to 15 years in a maximum security colony. Another defendant, blogger Vladimir Tsyganovich, received the same amount. Tikhanovsky’s team members Artyom Sakov and Dmitry Popov were sentenced to 16 years in prison. One of the leaders of the Belarusian opposition Nikolai Statkevich – to 14 years.