The trial in absentia of Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya opened in Minsk on Tuesday, state news agency Belta reported, as strongman Alexander Lukashenko pursues critics that challenged his last election.

Tikhanovskaya, who claimed victory in 2020 presidential elections, faces a litany of charges including high treason, "conspiracy to seize power" and creating and leading an extremist organisation, Belta said.

The 40-year-old activist, who was forced after the vote amid protests to leave Belarus for neighbouring EU member state Lithuania, has become the face of Belarusian democratic forces.

In an interview with AFP at Davos this week, Tikhanovskaya described the trial as a "farce" and said she had not been given access to court documents ahead of the proceedings.

"I don't know how long this trial will take place, how many days, but I'm sure they will sentence me to many, many years in jail," she said Monday.

 

Tikhanovskaya's political allies Maria Moroz, Pavel Latushko, Olga Kovalkova and Sergei Dylevsky are also being tried in absentia.

The high-profile trial comes after Belarusian authorities put in the dock a number of other critics including jailed Nobel Prize winner Ales Bialiatski.

The 60-year-old Bialiatski, who founded Viasna (Spring), the country's top rights group, and two of his associates have been in detention since July 2021.

The rights campaigners stand accused of smuggling a "large amount of cash" into Belarus to allegedly fund opposition activities, and face between seven and 12 years in prison.

- Jailed husband sees new charges -

Ahead of the start of Tikhanovskaya's trial, investigators announced new charges against her husband Sergei Tikhanovsky, who in 2021 was found guilty of organising riots and inciting social hatred.

He was sentenced to 18 years in prison.

"I know that whatever they come up with, it won't break him and it won't break my will to fight for the freedom of all political prisoners," Tikhanovskaya tweeted recently.

The 44-year-old charismatic YouTube blogger galvanised Belarusians when he ran for president in 2020 and coined a new insult for the strongman when he called him a "cockroach." 

Tikhanovsky was not allowed to run, and his wife ran in his place, claiming victory.

On Monday, the Investigative Committee said the activist faced new charges of disobeying prison officials because he allegedly provoked conflicts with cellmates and flouted prison authorities' orders.

Belarus witnessed a historic protest movement denouncing the controversial re-election of Lukashenko who has been in power for nearly 30 years.

Backed by Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Lukashenko unleashed a massive crackdown, throwing critics into prison or forcing them into exile. 

The Viasna rights group says there are more than 1,400 political prisoners in Belarus.

On Monday, a Polish-Belarusian journalist went on trial in the western city of Grodno.

Andrzej Poczobut, a correspondent for top Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza and a representative of the Polish minority in Belarus, was arrested in March 2021. 

He faces up to 12 years in prison for criticising Lukashenko's regime, if convicted.            

Tikhanovskaya: Exiled challenger to Belarus strongman   

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya has gone from soft-spoken political newcomer to world-renowned Belarusian opposition figure despite never having had political ambitions.

Since being forced to flee Belarus in 2020, she has urged greater Western pressure on Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko who has lent his country as a staging ground for Russia's operations in Ukraine.

"When dealing with the dictator Lukashenko, we must remember that he never keeps his words and acts as Russia's puppet," she wrote on Twitter this week.

She has held meetings with world leaders and has addressed international panels, trying to keep attention on Belarus even as the headlines are dominated by Ukraine.

Like thousands of Belarusians, Tikhanovskaya was forced to exile to Lithuania in summer 2020 after challenging Lukashenko's nearly three decades in power in a presidential election.

Her trial in absentia on a litany of charges including high treason and "conspiracy to seize power" opened in Minsk on Tuesday, state news agency Belta reported.

She has condemned the proceedings as a "farce" in an interview with AFP.

She accuses Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, of silencing and torturing his people, of stealing the 2020 election from her, and of handing over his country's sovereignty to Russia.

- Ran 'out of love' -

A teacher, Tikhanovskaya had stopped working to take care of her hearing-impaired son, and was living a life far from political ambitions.

That was until her husband Sergei Tikhanovsky, a charismatic YouTube blogger, was jailed after launching a presidential campaign against "cockroach" Lukashenko.

Tikhanovskaya then took over "out of love" for her husband, who she met when she was a student and he owned a nightclub.

To everyone's surprise, the electoral commission allowed her to stand, while banning or arresting other candidates deemed more serious. 

As a woman, she was not taken seriously by Belarus's overtly macho leader, who said that a female president "would collapse, poor thing."

Tikhanovskaya became part of an iconic trio of women -- with Veronika Tsepkalo and Maria Kolesnikova -- who posed an unprecedented challenge to the mustachioed authoritarian leader.

Hesitant in early television appearances, Tikhanovskaya quickly won praise for her popular speeches. 

"Are you tired of enduring it all? Are you tired of keeping silent?" she asked supporters in Minsk in August 2020. 

"Yes," the crowd roared.

And just before the vote and the violent crackdown on street protesters that followed Lukashenko's claim to a resounding win and a sixth term, she acknowledged things had changed.

"I have become the embodiment of people's hope, their longing for change," she told AFP in an interview ahead of election day in August 2020.

- 'Use every opportunity' -

A few days later, Lukashenko claimed a landslide victory in  a vote that critics and Western leaders say was rigged, triggering mass protests.

Emboldened by Moscow's backing, Lukashenko cracked down on protests, with thousands of detentions and claims of torture in prison.

Tikhanovskaya crossed into EU member state Lithuania days after the ballot, a decision her supporters said was made under pressure. Her children were sent there earlier in the campaign for safety.

She has watched from a distance as Lukashenko's regime closed in on her allies and Belarusians who flooded the streets demanding new and fair elections.

Tsepkalo, the wife of a former diplomat who was barred from standing in the vote, has fled the country.

Kolesnikova refused to go into exile. She was sentenced to 11 years in jail for conspiracy and recently spent a week in intensive care.

Tikhanovskaya is frequently on the road, calling on world leaders to put more pressure on Lukashenko, whose regime already faces multiple rounds of personal and economic sanctions.

"I am sure we will be able to bring our country peacefully to new elections, but to make this possible we have to be consistent in the struggle and use every opportunity, consistently fighting and resisting," she told AFP in September.

As the protests waned following violent dispersals, the authorities have sought to eradicate remaining pockets of dissent, targeting Lukashenko's opponents, NGOs and independent media.

Tikhanovskaya applauded the hundreds of activists, journalists and politicians who rights groups say are held as political prisoners in Belarus.

One such figure, Ales Bialiatski, the founder of Viasna (Spring), a human rights group, was co-awarded last year's Nobel Peace Prize.

He is in prison and his trial is ongoing.

"They inspire us even from behind bars and motivate us not to give up," she told AFP.