- After finding that a dissident was hanged in the park, Ukrainian police have launched a murder investigation.
- Supporters accused the Alexander Lukashenko regime of killing the militant.
- The police said they are following two main leads.
On Tuesday, a missing Belarusian dissident was found hanged in a park in Ukraine. The police launched a murder investigation. Supporters accused the Alexander Lukashenko regime of killing militants who helped his countrymen escape the repression. .
Vitaly Shishov, 26, is the head of a non-governmental organization Ukrainian Belarusian House. He has participated in everything from helping his compatriots settle in Ukraine to holding anti-government protests.
The Belarusian strongman Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, has been cracking down on any form of dissent since large-scale protests broke out after the election last year. The West believes this is unfair.
Many Belarusians fled to neighboring Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania.
The police said in a statement:
Vitaly Shishov, a Belarusian citizen who disappeared in Kiev yesterday, was found hanged in one of the Kiev parks not far from where he lived.
It said they had opened a murder investigation.
National Police Chief Igor Kremenko told reporters that the police are pursuing two main clues: suicide and murder disguised as suicide. He said that the radical had scratches on his nose and body, which was consistent with a fall.
An Agence France-Presse reporter saw several police cars and dozens of policemen at the scene, some of whom were wearing black bags.
On Monday morning, the activist went to Kiev for a jog, but did not come back and could not be reached by mobile phone.
The Belarusian House of Representatives in Ukraine accused the Lukashenko regime of being behind the murder of Shisov.
“There is no doubt that this is an operation planned by the Chekists to liquidate a Belarusian who poses a real danger to the regime,” the NGO said in a statement, referring to security service personnel.
After participating in anti-government protests in Belarus, Shisov moved to pro-Western Ukraine in the fall of 2020 and helped establish the Belarusian House in Ukraine.
The NGO stated that it had received multiple warnings about possible “provocations, including kidnapping and liquidation,” and Shishov had been tracked.
The Belarusian authorities used force to suppress historic demonstrations against Lukashenko’s rule and have been trying to stifle the remaining dissidents, imprison university students and shut down independent media.
Belarus has a history of political killings and disappearances. Critics of the regime claim that Belarusian security services run death squads to hunt down and target Lukashenko’s opponents.
The United Nations calls on the Ukrainian authorities to conduct a “thorough, fair and effective investigation.”
UN Human Rights Spokesperson Marta Hurtado told reporters in Geneva: “This brings our worries and worries about what is happening in Belarus to a higher level.”
The situation is clearly deteriorating.
“It’s not safe even if you are abroad”
After meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in London on Tuesday, the exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya told reporters that the death of the militants was a “crime,” but she wanted to wait. The result of the investigation.
She also said that she understood that she “may disappear at any time.”
Tikhanovskaya said in a statement on the messaging app Telegram earlier in the day: “Even abroad, Belarusians cannot be safe, as long as someone tries to retaliate against them and conceal the truth by getting rid of witnesses.”
Last week, Lukashenko praised his security service in a speech. He also attacked human rights activists and called Tikhanovskaya a “nasty woman.”
He claimed that the opposition is armed and “ready to change from words to actions at any time.”
Ivan Tertel, head of the KGB security department, stated that Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic countries have “information and psychological action centers” backed by the United States to “isolate” Minsk.
At the time of Shishov’s death, Belarusian athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya stated that she was forced to withdraw from the Tokyo Olympics and threatened to be forcibly deported for criticizing her athletic federation.
The sprinter was granted a humanitarian visa to Poland on Monday, and she said she was worried about being imprisoned if she returned to her country.
In May of this year, Lukashenko dispatched a fighter jet to intercept a Ryanair plane flying from Greece to Lithuania in order to arrest dissidents on board, which aroused the anger of the international community.
burs-as/oc/wdb
