The Belarusian authorities have sold at auction the two-room apartment of opposition leader Svetlana Tihanovska and her husband Sergej Tihanovska, a convicted blogger and activist.
A 66-square-meter apartment in Minsk, which was seized by the state in September, was sold yesterday in the third attempt for 203.687 Belarusian rubles (about 73.100 euros), after two previous auctions were canceled, the Belarusian service of Radio Free Europe reports.
The starting price at the auction was 171.900 Belarusian rubles (about 64.500 euros).
At the previous, canceled auction, the starting price of the apartment was 214.860 Belarusian rubles (about 77.250 euros).
Tihanovska commented on the sale of the apartment for the Belarusian portal Zerkalo, saying that after the change of government in Belarus, all property confiscated in a disputed manner will be returned to the rightful owners.
"They sold my apartment? I don't feel anything. I said goodbye to that apartment a long time ago. But I know that after the victory, all the property, which was confiscated like this, will be returned to the real owners," Tihanovska said.
Tihanovski was arrested in May 2020, two days after he announced that he would be a candidate in the presidential elections held in August of that year.
He is known as the author of the slogan "Step on the cockroach", with which he alluded to the authoritarian president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko.
After he was arrested, Svetlana Tihanovska ran in his place and took second place in the presidential elections. The day after the election, she fled to Lithuania to avoid arrest.
In 2021, Tihanovski was sentenced to 18 years in prison for inciting unrest and hatred in society, obstructing the work of the Central Election Commission and attempting to destroy the social order. He dismissed the accusations as politically motivated.
In February, the court sentenced Tihanovski to an additional 18 months in prison, after finding him guilty of "obvious violation of the internal regulations of the prison."
The declaration of Lukashenko's victory in the 2020 elections sparked months of mass protests across Belarus, resulting in the arrest of more than 35.000 people.
Independent media, human rights organizations and opposition groups were also targeted. The opposition and Western countries did not recognize Lukashenko's victory, which they claim was rigged.
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