Belarusian dissident details released, request for a liberation from prisoners

EXCLUSIVE – The Belarusian dissident Siarhei Tsikhanouski is free after spending more than five years as a political prisoner, and now he asks that those who are still behind bars are released.

In a video message played before the United Nations Human Rights Council on Thursday in Geneva, Tsikhanouski makes a desperate plea for international intervention.

“I was tortured, I was held in isolation, I was frozen. I was not even given a pen to write a few words. For years, I did not receive a single letter, not even from my daughter. They filled me with the ears of lies and propaganda. Killed behind bars,” said Tsikhanouski in the video, which was provided to Fox News by a Watch.

Siarhei Tsikhanouski calls for international action in his video message to the United Nations.

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Tsikhanouski has credited the international community – in particular the Trump administration – for its release, which was obtained after the UKRA Special Envoy on Ukraine and the General of Russia, Keith Kellogg, met with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. In addition to Tsikhanouski, 13 other political prisoners were released by American mediation.

The Belarusian dissident said in the video that he would not have succeeded by living without “international solidarity” and “the efforts of the United States administration”.

The head of the opposition of Bélarus Syarhei Tsikhanouski tightens his wife Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya after his release from prison, in this screen from a social media video published on June 21, 2025. (Sviatlana tsikhanouskaya via x / via reuters)

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In his first speech as a UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Bélarus, Nils Muižnieks warned that, since January 2025, the situation of human rights “continued to deteriorate”. He also noted that the authorities of Bélarus abused “very problematic” legislation, in particular a ban on insulting the president or other officials.

“The Belarus has a very large number of people behind bars that should not be there, including opposition politicians, human rights defenders, journalists, independent unions, environmental defenders and lawyers,” said Muižnieks before the video game of Tsikhanouski. He also described the ill -treatment of prisoners by the Belarusian authorities.

After the Council heard the message of Tsikhanouski, Muižnieks said that the words of the dissident recently made “have an additional weight”.

After his release, Tsikhanouski found his wife, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, and their children in Lithuania. Tsikhanouskaya is the exile Belarusian opposition chief that certain countries recognize as the elected president.

Tsikhanouskaya thanked President Donald Trump, Kellogg and the State Department for their efforts, which led to her husband’s freedom.

“My husband Siarhei is free! It is difficult to describe joy in my heart”, Tsikhanouskaya Written on x. “We have not finished. 1,150 political prisoners remain behind bars. Everything must be released.”

Siarhei Tsikhanouski, an activist from the Belarusian opposition freed a prison by the Belarusian authorities, met during an interview with the Associated Press in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Sunday, June 22, 2025. (Photo AP / Mindaugas Kulbis)

UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer joined the call to see the remaining 1,150 prisoners win their freedom.

“Siarhei Tsikhanouski is a symbol of courage that has paid a high price for challenging Lukashenko’s dictatorship. The United Nations Watch are honored to give him the floor to the United Nations Human Rights Council a few days after his release from the prison. His voice has silenced the regime for more than five years when he was tortured in the prison, now declared millions of Bellions.

Neuer said that Tsikhanouski’s message to the UN was “a direct challenge to the regimes that continue to silence their detractors”.

A Siarhei Tsikhanous Liberated holds a photo of himself taken before he was held behind bars for more than five years. (Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya office via x)

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Thursday, June 26, also marks the international day in favor of victims of torture. Tsikhanouskaya wrote on X to mark the occasion and shared a photo illustrating the effects of five years in prison on her husband.

“Today is the international day to support the victims of torture. My husband has survived five years of isolation and cruelty in the prisons of the Bélarus regime. Many others still support it. If we had abandoned, Siarhei would not be free.

According to NPRTsikhanouski has lost more than 41% of its body weight. He went to prison weighing 298 pounds but weighed only 174 pounds during his release on June 21.

In response to a request for comments on the Tsikhanouski declaration, the spokesperson for the UN Rights Council, Pascal Sim directed Fox News Digital to a registration of the hearing, in particular the remarks of Muižnieks.

The United Nations Human Rights Office also directed Fox News Digital to the Declaration of Muižnieks.