Tikhanovskaya campaign participant released in Belarus

Political prisoner Antonina Konovalova, who was a confidant of opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya in the 2020 presidential elections, has been released in Belarus. Antonina’s mother Anna Konovalova wrote about this on Facebook. Her post quotes "Present Tense".

Anna Konovalova did not write on what grounds her daughter was released. She was probably pardoned.

In the summer of 2020, Antonina Konovalova joined Svetlana Tikhanovskaya’s team and became a confidant of the presidential candidate. Konovalova was detained in September 2020 after the start of mass protests against the alleged falsification of election results in favor of Alexander Lukashenko. She was fined under the article for participation in an unauthorized rally, but after that she was not released, but a criminal case was opened against her.

On May 7, 2021, the Minsk Regional Court handed down verdicts in the case of the opposition telegram channel “Army with the People.” Antonina Konovalova and her husband Sergei Yaroshevich were sentenced to five and a half years in prison. Later, Sergei was sentenced to another nine months in prison under the article of malicious disobedience to the requirements of the administration of the correctional institution. In prison, Antonina almost completely lost her sight.

Antonina Konovalova and Sergei Yaroshevich have two children. Daughter Nastya is now 8 years old, son Ivan is 10. All this time, the children lived in Poland with their grandmother Anna Konovalova.

• On December 9, the press service of Alexander Lukashenko announced the signing of a decree pardoning 29 people “who committed crimes of an extremist nature.” This is the seventh wave of pardons of political prisoners in Belarus over the past six months. The names of those pardoned are not officially announced; it is stated that all those pardoned gave an undertaking not to return to opposition activities. Despite the pardon of about 200 people recently, more than a thousand people convicted on political charges continue to remain behind bars in Belarus, and new criminal cases and sentences are also reported.