Belarus Sentences Husband of Opposition Leader to 18 Years in Prison

MOSCOW—The husband of Belarus’s most prominent opposition leader was sentenced Tuesday to 18 years in prison, the latest move against increasingly beleaguered opponents of authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko.

Sergei Tikhanovsky, 43, a popular YouTube blogger and activist, was arrested several months before last year’s disputed presidential election, in which he had hoped to compete. His wife, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, ran in place of her jailed husband and managed to rally a groundswell of supporters who believe she won the vote. Ms. Tikhanovskaya fled the former Soviet republic for Lithuania almost immediately after the election, citing safety concerns for her children.