VILNIUS, Lithuania — Siarhei Tsikhanouski, speaking a day after his release from Belarusian prison, tried to smile and joke, but struggled to hold back heavy sighs recalling what he endured behind bars.
“They told me that ‘You would never get out.’ And they kept repeating: ‘You will die here,'” he said.
One of Belarus’ most prominent opposition figures, Tsikhanouski said he “almost forgot how to speak” during his years in solitary confinement. He was held in complete isolation, denied medical care and given barely enough food.
“If you had seen me when they threw only two spoons of porridge onto my plate, two small spoons …” he said, adding that he couldn’t buy anything in the prison kiosk.
Now 46, Tsikhanouski, a popular blogger and activist, was freed Saturday alongside 13 other prisoners and brought to Vilnius, the capital of neighboring Lithuania, where he was reunited with his wife, exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, and their children.
The release came just hours after Belarusian authorities announced that authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko met with U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy for Ukraine in the Belarusian capital, Minsk. Keith Kellogg became the highest-ranking U.S. official in years to visit Belarus, Moscow’s close and dependent ally.
Tsikhanouski, known for his anti-Lukashenko slogan “stop the cockroach,” was arrested after announcing plans to challenge the strongman in the 2020 election and shortly before the campaign began. He was sentenced to 19 years and six months on charges widely seen as politically motivated. His wife ran in his stead, rallying crowds across the country. Official results handed Lukashenko his sixth term in office but were denounced by the opposition and the West as a sham.
Lukashenko has since tightened his grip, securing a seventh term in disputed January 2025 elections. Since mid-2024, his government has pardoned nearly 300 prisoners — including U.S. citizens — in what analysts see as an attempt to mend ties with the West.
Tsikhanouski credited Trump with aiding his release.
“I thank Donald Trump endlessly,” Tsikhanouski said. “They (the Belarusian authorities) want Trump to at least, a little bit, somewhere, to meet them halfway. They are ready to release them all.”
Tens of thousands of people poured into the streets in the aftermath of the August 2020 vote. Thousands were detained, many beaten by police. Prominent opposition figures either fled the country or were imprisoned.
At least 1,177 political prisoners remain in custody, according to Viasna, the oldest and most prominent human rights group in Belarus.
Tsikhanouski called his release “a dream that’s still hard to believe.” On Saturday, he said, guards removed him from a KGB pretrial detention center, put a black bag over his head and handcuffed him before transporting him in a minibus. He and other prisoners had no idea where they were going.
Tsikhanouski’s children — his 9-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son — didn’t recognize him when they were reunited.
“We came in and my wife said to my daughter, ‘Your dad has arrived,'” he said, crying. “At first she couldn’t understand, and then she rushed in — she was crying, I was crying … for a very long time. My son too!”
Tsikhanouski says his health has deteriorated behind bars, and he plans to undergo a medical examination in Lithuania. He says cold and hunger were “the main causes of illness” that affected nearly all political prisoners in Belarus, who were subjected to “especially harsh conditions.”
“There were skin diseases, and everyone had kidney problems from the cold,” Tsikhanouski said. “Blood came out of my mouth, from my nose. Sometimes I had convulsions — but it was all because of the cold, that terrible cold when you sit in those punishment cells.”
Tsikhanouski blames Russian President Vladimir Putin for propping up Lukashenko.
Russia supports Belarus’ economy with loans and subsidized oil and gas. In return, Belarus has allowed Moscow to use its territory to launch troops and weapons into Ukraine, and hosts Russian forces and nuclear weapons.
“If it weren’t for Putin, we would already be living in a different country,” Tsikhanouski said.
Tsikhanouski says he will not stop fighting and wants to return to active work as both a political figure and a blogger.
“Many people say nothing will change until he (Lukashenko) dies,” Tsikhanouski said. “But I’m still counting on democratic forces winning.”
Information for this article was contributed by Elise Morton and Dasha Litvinova of The Associated Press.
Syarhei Tsikhanouski, left, Belarusian opposition activist released from a Belarusian prison, embraces his wife, Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, after a news conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)
Syarhei Tsikhanouski, left, a Belarusian opposition activist released from a Belarusian prison, cries as his wife Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya attends a news conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)
Syarhei Tsikhanouski, a Belarusian opposition activist released from a prison by Belarusian authorities, gestures during an interview with the Associated Press in Vilnius, Lithuania, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)
Syarhei Tsikhanouski, a Belarusian opposition activist released from a prison by Belarusian authorities, speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Vilnius, Lithuania, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)
Syarhei Tsikhanouski, a Belarusian opposition activist released from a prison by Belarusian authorities, cries during an interview with the Associated Press in Vilnius, Lithuania, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)