A Belarusian court has handed an 18-year prison sentence to opposition blogger and politician Sergey Tikhanovsky -- the husband of exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. The closed-door trial took place at a remand prison in the city of Gomel on Tuesday, December 14. Five other opposition figures were tried alongside Tikhanovsky, all of whom were handed sentences of 14 years in prison or more. After the verdict, Tikhanovskaya condemned Belarusian head of state Alexander Lukashenko for "taking revenge on his strongest political opponents" and promised that her opposition movement would continue its work.