Sevyarynets: Faces in the pre-trial detention center administration twisted at the mere mention of Tsikhanouski's surname

Siarhei Tsikhanouski. Photo: LookByMedia

Siarhei Tsikhanouski and I met on Minsk's Freedom Square. In the autumn of 2019, Siarhei, then still a simple blogger from Homiel, filmed a protest action and streamed the speakers' addresses.

During the independence rallies in late 2019, Siarhei, with his camera, emerged from the crowd now here, now there.

In the spring of 2020, when the opposition primaries began, Tsikhanouski interviewed me — in studios and at home (later, in my criminal case, these interviews would form the basis of the accusation of "conspiring and preparing mass riots").

Even then I saw that Siarhei was cool; I really liked his phrase, a response to one of the stream viewers who said, "why in Belarusian, people won't understand":

— There's no need to scare Belarusians with the Belarusian language!

Tsikhanouski spoke so simply with ordinary Belarusians, asking questions as if driving nails, and picked up the best, so much so that by April 2020, on the wave of the pandemic, it became clear — he was a national leader, and he was capable of leading people.

It was in him that the Belarusian demand for revolution during the pandemic was focused – and it was he who became the main hero of the summer of 2020.

I write these obvious things for those who are now "writing off" Siarhei Tsikhanouski, labeling him "accidental," dismissively commenting on him. At a critical moment in Belarusian history, Siarhei became a powerful resonator of the popular mood, went through fire and water, endured prison — and such things are not accidental.

Well, and Sviatlana, who ran for president following her husband — that is an epic Love story.

Already in August, at Valadarka, in the crowded "Shanghai," I had to deal with operatic "thugs" who kept harping on about Siarhei's "low status," then hear stories of how Tsikhanouski was tormented in Zhodzina, and see how faces in the administration twisted at the mere mention of his surname.

The released Siarhei Tsikhanouski continues his path — and he walks it, as in 2020, together with the Belarusian people. The path to Belarus and to Belarusianness. Disappointment, exile, despair, doubts — who hasn't gone through all of this in the last six years, at least in thought? Who hasn't given up? Haven't fallen?

And even if the ideas of "Finlandization" of Belarus are not very close to me, and even if I disagree with some of his statements — I would not raise a hand to throw a stone at a man under whose surname Belarusians signed up in 2020 in multi-thousand queues hoping for change.

Indeed, Siarhei Tsikhanouski is our national heritage. Such figures, such legends, are not cast aside. We, Belarusians, are not so rich and strong as to "discard" leaders capable of raising millions to fight for Belarus. Tsikhanouski has not yet said his last word. And his attention to Christianity, and his work in the USA, the epicenter of world politics — this is enormous potential.

And, after all, one must not forget: it was Siarhei who chose Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya as his wife – and she became the face of Belarus.

So, Siarhei — don't give up! Belarus will be free and independent — under the white-red-white flag!

We believe! We can! We will win!

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