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world news Diaranson 4 augustus 2021

Head of group for exiled Belarusians found hanged in Ukraine

(AP) — A Belarusian ac- was being shadowed. “He hundreds of raids in recent
tivist who ran a group in recently noted vehicles and weeks to target the indepen-
Ukraine helping Belaru- people who were following dent media and non-govern-
sians fleeing persecution him,” she said. ment organizations.
was found dead in the
Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, The Belarusian House in Belarus’ authoritarian gov-
local police said Tuesday. Ukraine, which helps Belaru- ernment has at times gone
sians fleeing persecution with to extremes in its crackdown
Vitaly Shishov, leader of the their legal status in Ukraine, on dissent, including recently
Kyiv-based Belarusian House accommodation and employ- diverting a plane to the capi-
in Ukraine, was found ment, also said that Shisov tal of Minsk and arresting a
hanged in one of the city’s was recently being followed dissident aboard.
parks not far from his home, by strangers.
police said in a statement. Yury Shchuchko from the
It noted that “both local Belarusian House in Ukraine
A probe has been launched, sources and our people in Be- told The Associated Press
with police investigating larus” have alerted the group that Shishov was found with
whether it was a suicide or a to the possibility of “various marks of beating on his face. date in the August 2020 elec- told the AP she feared she
murder made to look like sui- provocations, including kid- “Nothing was stolen, he was tion who left for Lithuania wouldn’t be safe in Belarus.
cide, head of Ukraine’s Na- napping and liquidation.” in regular clothes people put under pressure from the au- International officials on
tional Police Igor Klymenko on to work out, and he only thorities, expressed condo- Tuesday urged Ukraine to
told reporters on Tuesday. “There is no doubt that this had his phone with him,” lences to Shishov’s family on conduct a thorough investi-
was a planned operation by Shchuchko said. Tuesday. gation into the death of the
Ukraine’s President Volody- security operatives to liqui- activist.
myr Zelenskyy is keeping a date a Belarusian, dangerous He also said that Shishov has “Belarusians can’t be safe
close eye on the case, accord- for the regime. We will con- previously noticed surveil- even abroad, as long as there “We are deeply shocked by
ing to his spokesman, Serhiy tinue to fight for the truth lance during his runs and that are those who are trying to the news of the death of the
Nykyforov, while Foreign about Vitaly’s death,” the strangers would approach inflict revenge on them,” Belarusian activist Vitaly
Minister Dmytro Kuleba group said. him and try to start a conver- Tsikhnaouskaya said in an Shishov,” Austria’s Foreign
promised on Twitter that sation. online statement. Ministry said on Twitter.
“Ukraine will do everything About 300 people rallied “Our thoughts are with his
possible to fully investigate Tuesday outside the Belaru- “We have been warned to be “Vitaly Shishov was helping loved ones. Austria calls for a
the case.” sian Embassy in Kyiv, many more careful, because a net- Belarusians and was found thorough and transparent in-
holding his portrait. work of Belarus KGB agents hanged ... It happened on an- vestigation into the circum-
“It is of utmost importance is operating here and every- other country’s soil. Just like stances leading to his death.”
for us to reveal the truth Belarus was rocked by thing is possible,” Shchuchko the hostage-taking took place
about his tragic death,” Kule- months of protests, which said. “Vitaly asked me to take on another country’s plane. U.N. spokesman Stephane
ba said. were triggered by President care of his loved ones, he had Just like the attempt to force- Dujarric said: “We’re, obvi-
Alexander Lukashenko’s re- a weird feeling.” fully bring a disloyal athlete ously, glad to see that this is
Shishov’s Belarusian girl- election to a sixth term in back to Belarus from another being investigated. I think his
friend, Bazhena Zholudz, an August 2020 vote that the Klymenko of the Ukrainian country’s territory,” she said. death needs to be investigated
told The Associated Press opposition and the West saw national police told reporters fully to elaborate all of these
that she doesn’t believe that as rigged. He responded to on Tuesday that there were Earlier this week, Belarus circumstances. And we, of
he could have killed himself. demonstrations with a mas- indeed injuries discovered on Olympic sprinter Krystsina course, send our condolences
sive crackdown that saw Shishov’s body — scratched Tsimanouskaya accused the to his family and friends.”
“I don’t believe in suicide, more than 35,000 people ar- skin on his nose, a cut on his country’s officials of hustling
nothing in Vitaly’s conduct rested and thousands beaten lip and an injury on his left her to the airport and trying The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv
signaled his intention to kill by police knee. He wouldn’t say, how- to put her on a plane back said on Twitter that Shishov’s
himself,” she said. “He didn’t ever, whether these resulted to Belarus after she publicly death “takes place amid an
leave any note or message. Lukashenko has vowed to from violence. Klymenko criticized the management of unacceptable Belarusian
We were together that morn- continue what he called a added that police haven’t re- her team at the Tokyo Games. crack down on civil soci-
ing and he just went out for “mopping-up operation” ceived any complaints about Tsimanouskaya refused to ety, and we look forward to
a jog.” against civil society activists surveillance from Shishov. board the plane and instead a complete and thorough
whom he has denounced as will seek refuge in Europe. investigation by Ukrainian
Zholudz added that Shishov “bandits and foreign agents,” Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, authorities to establish its
had recently noted that he and authorities conducted the main opposition candi- In an interview Tuesday, she causes and circumstances.”

Russia hands Navalny ally parole-like sentence over protests

(AP) — A court in Mos- cow on Tuesday sentenced a close ally of imprisoned p.m. and 6 a.m., attend mass was launched shortly after
opposition leader Alexei events or travel outside Mos- nationwide protests over his
Navalny to 1 1/2 years of cow and its outlying region. arrest and jailing rocked Rus-
parole-like restrictions She was also ordered to check sia all across its 11 time zones
in a controversial crimi- in with police three times a on Jan. 23.
nal case the government month, her lawyer Vladimir
launched against opposi- Voronin said. Navalny, Russian President
tion supporters after mass Vladimir Putin’s most ardent
protests shook Russia this He added that because Sobol political foe, was arrested a
year. had already spent nearly six week before that upon return-
months under house arrest ing from Germany, where he
The court found Lyubov So- and other restrictions, the spent five months recovering
bol guilty of inciting people sentence will only remain in from a nerve agent poisoning
to violate coronavirus re- place for about a year. that he blames on the Krem-
strictions and for the next lin — an accusation rejected
18 months barred her from The case against Sobol and by Russian officials.
leaving her home between 10 several other Navalny allies