Tichanovskij has been imprisoned without contact with the outside world since May 2020. The release came completely unexpectedly on Saturday.
In his first full-scale interview after that, Tichanovskij tells that the prison guards put a black bag over his head and pushed him into a minibus. That he and 13 fellow prisoners a few hours later would be free, and be in the neighboring country of Lithuania, the 46-year-old had no idea. Rather, he feared the worst.
They used to say, "you will never get out of here". And they said over and over again, "you will die in here".
Honestly, I still can't believe it, says Tichanovskij, and pauses with tears in his eyes.
He is a tall man, 192 centimeters, who before the arrest weighed 135 kilos, writes AP. After five brutal years behind bars, he weighs 79.
Rushed forward
The children, 9 and 15 years old, did not recognize him.
We came in and my wife said to our daughter, "here is your dad". At first, she didn't understand.
Then she rushed forward. She cried, I cried. Very long. And my son too. The feelings cannot be described.
But the joy is mixed with the heavy memories of long-term isolation, no healthcare and barely any food.
You should have seen me when they threw two spoons of porridge on my plate, two small spoons...
There was a small kiosk in the prison, but Tichanovskij tells that he was not allowed to shop there.
Sometimes they could give me a small tube of toothpaste, or a small soap, as alms.
The isolation made him "almost forget how to talk".
Does not want to challenge
The arrest in 2020 came just a few days after Tichanovskij said that he would run in the election and challenge President Aleksandr Lukasjenko, referred to as "Europe's last dictator". The allegations against him, which later turned into a sentence of almost 20 years in prison, have been seen as Lukasjenko's way of removing a strong political challenger.
Since then, Tichanovskij's wife Svetlana Tichanovskaja has stepped forward as the leader of the Belarusian opposition. There has been speculation about why he was released, and if it can be to divide the movement against the regime. But Tichanovskij says that now his wife is leading – he does not want to challenge anyone and hopes for unity within the opposition.
Under no circumstances do I intend to criticize any other Belarusians.
