In the shadow of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny’s death in a Russian prison, a similar case has occurred in neighboring Belarus.
A political activist jailed for defaming the country’s President Alexander Lukashenko has died in prison, his political party said on Tuesday. This is reported by the AFP news agency.
“Igor Lednik, a former member of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party, activist and journalist, has died in prison at the age of 64,” the party writes on Telegram
The death has also been confirmed by the human rights organization Viasna.
Sentenced to three years in prison
Lednik was arrested in 2022 and sentenced to three years in prison for slandering Lukashenko in an article in the Social Democrats newspaper.
In prison, his health will “deteriorate significantly”, the party claims. Lednik had for some time suffered from heart problems and had undergone surgery for stomach problems. At present, however, the cause of death is unknown.
Opposition leader Svetlana Tischanovskaya, who lives in exile, blames the authorities for Lednik’s death and calls what happened “an injustice and an incredible tragedy”.
“In prisons, the regime kills Belarusians who want to change life in their country for the better,” she writes on Telegram.
1,400 political prisoners
Last month, another opposition politician, Vadzim Khrasko, died of pneumonia in a Belarusian penal colony, writes Kyiv Post. Human rights groups state that he had not received necessary medical care in prison.
Authorities in Belarus have cracked down on scores of opponents of Lukashenko – who has been in power since 1994 – after mass protests erupted in the wake of the 2020 presidential election.
According to Viasna, there are now more than 1,400 political prisoners in Belarus.