Five years later in jail, opposition figure speaks Takhanowski

Sergei Takhanowski has barely spoken for more than five years.

At that time he was held in a solitary imprisonment in a high security Belarusi jail to dare to stand for a dictator.

Now the former opposition blogger is independent, and the words exit so quickly that their thoughts sometimes struggle to maintain.

“The ban on speaking was the most difficult task,” Sergei admitted that when we met in Villanius soon after our stunning release.

“When you can’t say anything or write, you can’t talk to anyone and you are just stuck in a cell – this is the most difficult thing – not banning movement.”

Sergei is now in exile applicable, freeing 13 other political prisoners, a senior American delegation paid a rare journey to the Electoralist ruler of Belarus, Alexander Lakasheko.

When I ask about reunion with my family, Sergei puts his hand on his face and cries.

His daughter was only four years old when he was arrested.

“She didn’t recognize me,” she eventually manages after a long stagnation. “Then he threw himself in my arms and we hugged for a long time.”

Sergei’s change is shocking since his arrest.

He was back in 2020 and was a bearded. Now the face under his close shaved head is Gaunt. He says that he has lost about 60 kg (132 pounds) in the jail, where he spent endless weeks in the punished cells.

“Physically I say half size and half weight,” Sergei says. “But my soul is not broken. It is probably even stronger.”

“Before I only heard about the crimes of this rule, but now I have seen them first and we have to fight it.”

Until last week, Sergei Takhanowski was one of the most prominent political prisoners in Belarus.

Before the 2020 presidential election, he developed a big YouTube after filming a clear interview about the complaints and problems of the people.

Then he tried to register himself to run, waving a huge slippers and called the Belarusians to “stop the cockroach”.

“I was using the opportunity to show that it is impossible to win democratically in Belarus,” Sergei explains. “I wanted to show that the elections are fake, and they arrested me.”

When his wife, Svetlana Takhanovskaya, went to his place, he attracted a huge crowd. After Lusashenko claimed another estimated victory, the mob became a collective opposition that soon became a collective arrest.

In jail, Sergei was constantly taken out for sick treatment like other high-profile data-“They think they are the most dangerous, or they want to destroy”, as he puts it.

He says, “I was in total separation for the last two and a half years. I did not get a single letter in almost three years. He did not give me any phone for almost three years.”

He was not allowed to see a priest.

“They will say: You will die in jail. We will continue to extend your time and you will not go out.”

To make cases worse, Sergei was often sent to a punishment cell – for a mark or a stray cobweb on the wall.

“Those cells can be three-two meters, including a hole in the floor for a toilet,” he misses. “No mattress, no sheet and no pillow.”

He gets up every hour through the night to keep warm with a set of squats and seats, then lie on a wooden bed, until his arms and legs seize, and he had to start exercising again.

To cope, he had to empty his brain of all ideas of family and friends.

“You have to keep it aside,” they say. “Because if you wonder how they are and what is happening to them, you will not survive.”

This was the last August when Sergei feels that he is coming out.

When the Deputy Prosecutor started visiting jails and “seriously recommended” that political prisoners write the dictator and request their forgiveness “as Sergey said.

Lushaneko was suddenly eager to look kind and many dozen released.

Sergei and other big names, such as Victor Babbarika and Maria Kolsnikova, were never on any list.

But he never entertained the idea of ​​accepting his children to get back.

“I am not a criminal,” he explains. “So it will be betrayed by all those who support me.”

Then the United States entered the last week.

When special envoy Keith Kelog traveled to Minsk to intervene for American citizens in jail, he also emerged with Sergei.

For Lusashenko, the meeting with Kelog was a diplomatically a major win.

He has been provoked by Western countries since he suppressed peaceful protests in 2020.

His active support for Russia in attacking Ukraine has still further separated him.

“Now Lushaneko could show some cooperation, starting a dialogue with the US,” Sergei says, what Lakashnco got to free some prisoners.

“It was the price: the beginning of contact with him. Because no one was attractive.”

Sergei wants that there is nothing but release of all other political prisoners. The total are over 1,000.

In tears, he recently describes meeting an “old man”, who turned out to be a young friend, who was beyond recognition from jail.

“I will give anything to take them out,” says Sergei. “I think we should pay any price. But I don’t want them to leave all the restrictions.”

Sergei’s wife, who is now the Leader of the Opposition, is very happy to return her with her and her children. But Svetlana tells me that she is careful with the next American step.

“We cannot soften the restrictions until the repression is completely closed,” she argues. “Released to 14 people, 28 more were immediately detained in Belarus. For Luakshhenko, there was no change in the policy.”

The first week of Sergei’s independence has passed in a circle of activity. He met politicians, gave a speech and wrote to Donald Trump with his thanks. He is also catching the lost time with his children – as well as all the news in isolation.

But what about their ambitions? The last time she and Svetlana were together, she was a housewife and she was political. So can there be stress?

“I have no claim of his role,” Sergei says insisting. “I don’t need it. I just need a Democratic Belarus.”