Belarusian opposition politician Alyaksandr Milinkevich has died
Belarusian opposition politician, physicist, and winner of the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize, Alyaksandr Milinkevich, has died at the age of 79. His death was announced on Tuesday, according to Euronews.
In 2005, Milinkevich was chosen as the candidate of the opposition democratic forces in the Belarusian presidential election. In the 2006 election, he ran against Alyaksandr Lukashenko. According to official results, Lukashenko received 83% of the vote, while Milinkevich received 6%. At the time, the United States and Europe expressed doubts about the accuracy of the election results and the legitimacy of Lukashenko’s third presidential term.
That same year, Milinkevich received the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. A defining feature of his election campaign was his pro-European vision for Belarus’s future. During the campaign, the opposition faced pressure, including threats of criminal prosecution, disinformation campaigns in pro-government media, and the arrest of activists at rallies.
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Alyaksandr Milinkevich was born in 1947 in Grodno. He graduated from the Physics and Mathematics Department of the Grodno Pedagogical Institute, worked as a teacher, earned a doctoral degree, and became an associate professor at that institution. He also authored dozens of scientific papers on quantum electronics and laser technologies, as well as works on Belarusian culture, art, and education.
From 1990 to 1996, Milinkevich served as deputy chairman of the Grodno City Executive Committee. In 2001, he headed the campaign headquarters of Belarusian presidential candidate Syamon Domash. After the 2006 elections, he founded the “For Freedom” civic movement, which he led for about another ten years.
Following the brutal crackdown on protests in Belarus in 2020, Milinkevich left the country and has been living in exile with his family. He became an advisor to Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the leader of the Belarusian opposition in exile, and founded the Free Belarusian University, headquartered in Warsaw. Tsikhanouskaya and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola expressed their condolences to his family.
