Vitaly Shishov headed the Belarusian House in Ukraine, an NGO helping his compatriots flee repression in Belarus. INSTAGRAM
Belarusian dissident Vitaly Shishov was on August 3 found hanged in a park close to where he lived in Ukraine, with police opening a murder probe and supporters accusing the regime of Alexander Lukashenko of killing the activist who helped his compatriots flee repression.
Shishov, 26, headed the Belarusian House in Ukraine, an NGO involved in everything from helping fellow compatriots settle in Ukraine to staging anti-regime protests.
He went jogging in Kiev on the morning of August 2 but did not return and could not be reached on his mobile phone.
Belarus strongman Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, has been cracking down on any form of dissent since mass protests erupted after last year’s elections, deemed unfair by the West.
Many Belarusians have fled, often to neighbouring Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania.
“Belarusian citizen Vitaly Shishov, who had gone missing in Kiev yesterday, was today found hanged in one of the Kiev parks, not far from where he lived,” the police said in a statement on August 2.
A murder probe has been opened.
National police head Igor Klymenko told reporters that officers were pursuing two main leads – suicide and murder disguised as a suicide. He said the activist had scratches on his nose and body which were consistent with a fall.
An AFP journalist saw several police cars and dozens of officers at the scene, some carrying black bags.
The Belarusian House in Ukraine accused the Lukashenko regime of having murdered Shishov. “There is no doubt that this is an operation planned by Chekists to liquidate a Belarusian who presented a true danger to the regime,” the NGO said in a statement, referring to security service agents.
Shishov moved to pro-Western Ukraine in the autumn of 2020, after joining anti-government protests in Belarus, and helped establish the Belarusian House in Ukraine.
The NGO said it had repeatedly received warnings about possible “provocations, including kidnapping and liquidation” and that Shishov had been followed.
Belarus has a history of political killings and disappearances, and regime critics have claimed that the Belarusian security services run death squads that hunt down and target Lukashenko opponents.
The UN called on the Ukrainian authorities to conduct a “thorough, impartial and effective investigation”.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky was “closely following the findings of the police”, his spokesman Sergiy Nikiforov said.
Speaking to reporters after meeting UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson in London on August 3, exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said the activist’s death was mostly likely due to criminal activity but she wanted to wait for the results of the police probe.
She also said she understood she “can disappear at any moment”.
“Even abroad, Belarusians cannot be safe as long as there are those who are trying to take revenge on them and hide the truth by getting rid of the witnesses,” Tikhanovskaya said in a statement on messaging app Telegram earlier in the day.
Last week, Lukashenko claimed the opposition was armed and “was ready to go from words to actions at any moment”.
The head of the KGB security service, Ivan Tertel, said that Ukraine, Poland, and the Baltic states had US-backed “centres for information and psychological operations” which they used to “isolate” Minsk.
