Key takeaways: 

• Video blogger Syarhei Tsikhanouski was apprehended when he attempted to run for president.
• Syarhei Tsikhanouski, a video blogger and the spouse of Belarusian rival leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, is accompanied before a court trial in Gomel, Belarus, on Tuesday.

Video Blogger arrested for challenging president: 

Things to know in this story:

• Court needles down the lengthy prison term to a rival politician.
• Sees him guilty of managing mass unrest.
• He refuses misconduct, wife states it’s political vengeance.
• Judgment part of the long-running rival crackdown. 

 A court in Belarus condemned the rival leader’s spouse to 18 years in prison on Tuesday after he was charged during a try to run for president against incumbent Alexander Lukashenko, a ruling his wife named political vengeance.

The court saw Syarhei Tsikhanouski, a 43-year-old video blogger, blameworthy of organizing mass unrest and of starting social hatred, and gave him one of the most extended prison terms in modern Belarusian history. 

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Tsikhanouski’s case was locked to the public and attorneys were prohibited from revealing facts of the case. His disciples stated the accusations were fabricated and politically motivated.

Syarhei, the spouse of rival leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, was captured at a rival protest in May last year after being banned from taking interest in an election after that year, which his wife challenged instead.

He started to dominance in Belarus after comparing Lukashenko, who has been in force since 1994, to a moustachioed cockroach from a kid’s fairy tale.