Missing Belarusian activist found dead
KIEV, UKRAINE: A Belarusian activist living in exile in Ukraine was found hanged in a park near his home in Kiev on Tuesday, and Ukrainian police said they have launched a murder case.
Vitaly Shishov, who led a Kiev-based organisation that helps Belarusians fleeing persecution, had been reported missing by his partner on Monday after failing to return home from a run.
Police said they had launched a criminal case for suspected murder, including investigating whether attackers had tried to disguise the killing as suicide.
Shishov, 26, had felt under constant surveillance since he left Belarus last year after taking part in anti-government protests, his colleagues said. He had been warned about possible threats, including being kidnapped or killed.
Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania have become havens for Belarusians during a crackdown by President Alexander Lukashenko following a disputed election last year. Tens of thousands of people have been detained and leading opposition figures are either in jail or living abroad.
“It is worrying that those who flee Belarus still can’t be safe,” exiled opposition figure Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said on Twitter.
Shishov’s death was reported by the Belarus official news agency Belta, but the Minsk authorities did not otherwise comment. Lukashenko’s spokesperson could not be reached.
Yuri Shchuchko, a friend of Shishov, who helped police identify the body, said Shishov’s nose had been broken. A police spokesperson declined comment when asked about this.
Shishov led the Belarusian House in Ukraine (BDU) group, which helps Belarusians find accommodation, jobs and legal advice.
In May a dissident journalist, Roman Protasevich, was detained by Belarusian security forces after his flight was forced to land in Minsk. This week, a Belarusian athlete took refuge in the Polish embassy in Tokyo after refusing her team’s orders to fly home from the Olympics.
Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, who plans to seek refuge in Europe, told the Associated Presss on Tuesday that officials from her country “made it clear” she would face punishment if she returned home.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken blasted Belarus’ attempt to send home a sprinter from the Tokyo Olympics against her wishes as intolerable “transnational repression”.
Lukashenko’s “regime sought to commit another act of transnational repression: attempting to force Olympian Krystsyna Tsimanouskaya to leave simply for exercising free speech”, Blinken wrote on Twitter late on Monday. “Such actions violate the Olympic spirit, are an affront to basic rights, and cannot be tolerated”.