Belarusian prosecutors have demanded lengthy prison terms and hefty fines for Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya and four other opposition leaders living outside the country.
Prosecutors in the trial in Minsk demanded 19-year prison sentences for Tsikhanouskaya and Pavel Latushka along with fines of $15,000 and $10,000, respectively.
Tsikhanouskaya, Latushka, and three other opposition figures -- Maryya Maroz, Volha Kavalkova, and Syarhey Dylevski -- are being tried in absentia on charges of conspiring to overthrow the government, creating and leading an extremist group, inciting hatred, and harming national security.
The prosecution seeks 12-year sentences for Maroz, Kavalkova, and Dylevski. All five defendants left Belarus after the August 2020 presidential election amid a brutal government crackdown on the opposition.
Tsikhanouskaya said the sentences sought by the prosecution are the best example of how the regime treats Belarusians who stand for democracy.
"I can't say that I am surprised to learn that the prosecutor asked for 19 years in the Belarus regime's fake trial against me," she said on Twitter. "It has nothing to do with justice, it is just personal revenge against me & others who are opposing the regime. It will only make us fight even harder."
She also commented on an additional 1 1/2 years handed to her jailed husband, Syarhey Tsikhanouski, for "blatantly violating a penitentiary's inner regulations."
Tsikhanouskaya said the sentence was handed down by an "illegal court" in a separate proceeding and said her husband did not admit guilt because he should not be in prison.
"He should be free like all political prisoners. The regime can keep inventing new methods of repression, but it won't stop us," said Tsikhanouskaya.
Tsikhanouski is serving 18 years on a range of charges related to the 2020 election. The popular video blogger announced his presidential candidacy, challenging Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka, and was disqualified and arrested before the vote. His wife then mounted her own campaign.
Lukashenka claimed a landslide victory that has not been recognized by the opposition and Western countries, who say he had the results rigged in his favor and that the real winner was Tsikhanouskaya.
Tsikhanouski was sentenced along with five other men -- RFE/RL's journalist Ihar Losik, former presidential candidate Mikalay Statkevich, and opposition activists Uladzimer Tsyhanovich, Artsyom Sakau, and Dzmitry Papou -- all of whom were also handed lengthy prison terms. They rejected the accusations as politically motivated.