Belarusian opposition politician and scientist Aliaksandr Milinkevich dies at 79

Aliaksandr Milinkevich, the physicist-turned-politician who united Belarus’s opposition forces to challenge Aliaksandr Lukashenka in the 2006 presidential election, has died at the age of 79.

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His death was announced on Tuesday.

Milinkevich underwent a complicated operation to remove a blood clot from his carotid artery last year. He spent a prolonged period in critical condition and later underwent extensive rehabilitation.

From academia to politics

Milinkevich was born in 1947, in Grodno, Belarus. After graduating from the faculty of physics and mathematics at the Grodno Pedagogical Institute, he worked as a teacher at a local school. He later earned a PhD and became an associate professor at the same institution.

He went on to author dozens of academic works on quantum electronics and laser technology, as well as on Belarusian culture, art, education and more.

Around the time of the Soviet Union's collapse, he moved into the public sector, and from 1990 to 1996, he served as deputy chair of the Grodno city executive committee.

In 2001, he headed the campaign headquarters of Belarusian presidential candidate Semyon Domash, and five years later he ran for the presidency himself.

A pro-European challenger

In 2005, Milinkevich was chosen as the candidate of the opposition democratic forces, which stood as a united front against the Lukashenka regime. A pro-European vision for Belarus became a defining feature of his campaign.

The election campaign was marked by intense pressure on the opposition, including threats of criminal prosecution, disinformation campaigns in pro-government media, and arrests of opposition activists at rallies.

In the end, according to the official figures, Lukashenka took 83% of the vote, with Milinkevich receiving 6%. Both in the United States and in Europe, doubts remained over the reliability of the results and the legitimacy of Lukashenka's third term in office.

That same year, Milinkevich received the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

After the unprecedentedly harsh suppression of protests in Belarus in 2020, he left the country and lived in exile with his family.

He became an adviser to opposition leader in exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and the founder of the "Free Belarusian University," with its headquarters in Warsaw.

'Return to the European family'

Immediately after the election, Milinkevich founded the civic movement "For Freedom," which he continued to lead for another decade.

The movement championed European values and advocated for the development of civil society in Belarus, free and fair elections, democratic rights and European standards of living.

"By our mentality, traditions, history, culture and language, we are Europeans. For me, it has never been a matter of choosing which way we should go, east or west. For me it has been about returning to the European family from which we were forcibly taken into an empire," he said in one interview.

For Milinkevich, the issue was ultimately existential - "about whether Belarusians will continue to exist in our own country. The master of the Kremlin does not recognise as a nation not only Ukrainians, but us as well," he said.

'A man of exceptional dignity'

Tsikhanouskaya has expressed her condolences to Milinkevich's family.

"A man of exceptional dignity, a kind soul and a brilliant mind, he was a true point of reference for many of us. For me, Aliaksandr was a source of support and wisdom, whose advice I always valued deeply," she wrote in a post on X.

"His devotion to Belarus, our language and culture, and his ability to unite and support people in the most difficult moments will remain with us," she added.

President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola also responded to the news on social media, writing: "Aliaksandr Milinkevich dedicated his life to the fight for democracy in Belarus."

"His courage and legacy will stay with us. Europe continues to stand with the people of Belarus," Metsola said.

In a 2006 interview, Milinkevich told Euronews: “The humiliation people feel when living in fear, the violation of their dignity — this, I believe, is the root cause of all Belarus’s problems."

For years, he watched as Lukashenka’s regime crushed even the smallest expressions of dissent, stamping out any signs of resistance in Belarusian society. Yet he never lost his optimism. In fact, he said his faith in change had grown stronger after the events of 2020.

"We have experience, we had the fantastic year 2020, when everyone contributed to the Belarusian spirit and the desire to defend their 'self', truth, freedom. After 2020, I am an absolute optimist, because a completely different nation was born. People overcame their fear," he said.