Belarus
Human rights activist: Another Lukashenko critic dies
Belarusian activist Vadim Khrasko has died of untreated pneumonia, according to the Vyasna Human Rights Center. (archive image) photo
© Uncredited/Viasna Human Rights Center/AP
The sentence for Wadim Chrasko was three years in a prison camp. He is said to have supported the opposition financially. A few days ago he died in hospital, according to the Vyasna Human Rights Center.
Human rights activists have criticized the penal system in the authoritarian former Soviet republic Belarus again accused of the death of a political prisoner. The Vyasna Human Rights Center said 50-year-old Vadim Khrasko died of untreated pneumonia. The critic of ruler Alexander Lukashenko was only taken to the hospital when he could no longer be saved. He died on the night of January 9th. It was the fourth death of a political prisoner in Belarus, it was said. The authorities in Minsk did not provide any information about the new case.
According to Vyasna, more than 1,400 people are imprisoned as political prisoners in Belarus. Many of them took part in protests against Lukashenko after the 2020 presidential election, which was overshadowed by unprecedented allegations of fraud. According to the court ruling, Chrasko is said to have financed the opposition; Despite his illness, he was sentenced to three years in a prison camp in August last year for allegedly supporting extremists.
The judiciary under Lukashenko is seen as an instrument of political arbitrariness and the suppression of dissidents. After the election, the ruler had himself declared the winner again. He suppressed the mass protests against his remaining in power.
More and more prisoners
The Belarusian opposition and civil rights activists in exile accuse Lukashenko of mass repression. The political prisoners are being held in deplorable conditions, Vyasna said. The number of prisoners continues to rise. Khrasko, who was arrested last year, was buried on January 12th in the capital Minsk.
Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya expressed her condolences to the family of the prisoner who died. She accused Lukashenko’s “criminal regime” of intentionally allowing sick prisoners to die. “We will do everything we can to ensure that those involved in these crimes receive their just punishment,” said Tikhanovskaya in exile abroad.