A Belarusian activist who ran a gaggle to assist Belarusians fleeing persecution in Ukraine was discovered lifeless within the Ukrainian capital Kiev, native police mentioned on Tuesday.
The chief of the Belarusian House in Kiev, Ukraine, was discovered hanging in a metropolis park, police mentioned in a press release.
While a homicide investigation has been launched, police are investigating whether or not the homicide might be handled as a suicide, the assertion mentioned.
The Belarusian House in Ukraine mentioned on Monday that Shishov had gone lacking throughout a morning run. The Belarusian Human Rights Center Vysna cited associates of Shishov as saying that strangers have adopted him throughout his current run.
Belarusian House in Ukraine helps Belarusians fleeing persecution with their authorized standing, housing and employment in Ukraine.
In current weeks in Belarus, authorities have mounted elevated stress in opposition to non-governmental organizations and the impartial media, conducting greater than 200 raids on the workplaces and flats of activists and journalists in July alone and detaining dozens.
Authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko has vowed to proceed the “mopping-up operation” in opposition to civil society activists, whom he has characterised as “robbers and foreign agents”.
Lukashenko confronted months of opposition after he was awarded a sixth time period in an August 2020 vote that was seen as rigged by the opposition and the West. They responded to the demonstrations with an enormous crackdown by which greater than 35,000 folks had been arrested and hundreds had been crushed up by the police.
The Belarusian House in Ukraine mentioned in a press release on Tuesday that Shishov was pressured to maneuver to Ukraine within the fall of 2020 when anti-government protests and crackdowns on protesters had been in full swing in Belarus.
In Ukraine, he was underneath surveillance, and “both local sources and our people in Belarus” have alerted the group to the potential of “various provocations, including kidnapping and liquidation”.
“There is no doubt that this was a well-planned operation by the security authorities to destroy a Belarusian, dangerous for the regime. We will continue to fight for the truth about Vitaly’s death,” the group mentioned.
Yuri Shuchko of the Belarusian House in Ukraine instructed The Associated Press that Shishov’s face was marked with beatings. “Nothing was stolen, he was in regular clothes that people used to wear to work, and he only had his phone with him,” Shuchko mentioned.
He additionally mentioned that Shishov has seen surveillance throughout his runs earlier than and strangers will method him and attempt to begin a dialog.
“We have been warned to be more careful because a network of Belarus KGB agents is operating here and everything is possible,” Shuchko mentioned.
“Vitaly asked me to take care of his loved ones, he felt strange.”
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
