Sergei Tikanovsky, husband of Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, was sentenced on Tuesday to 18 years in prison.

It informs the Belarusian state media.

Sergei Tikanovsky planned to challenge Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko in the 2020 elections, but was arrested on charges of disturbing public order.

The 43-year-old has been in custody since May last year.

– I will continue to defend the person I love and who became the leader of millions of Belarusians. I’m going to try something very difficult — perhaps impossible: to speed up the moment when we can all be together in the new Belarus, Tikanovskaya says of his husband in a video posted on Tuesday.

She said before sentencing that regardless of the outcome it is illegal.

After her husband’s arrest, his wife ran in the elections, reportedly with President Alexander Lukashenko receiving more than 80 percent of the vote. After the elections, she fled into exile for fear of imprisonment, as did a number of other opposition figures.