‼ANOTHER VICTIM OF THE BLOODY DICTATOR – POLITICAL PRISONER DEAD IN JAIL

Last Friday, on May 21st, the family of the political prisoner Vitold Ashurak was told that he died in prison from a heart attack. He was 50 years old.

On September 19th, 2020 Vitold peacefully protested against the rigged elections in Lida, Belarus near the local administration office. He was arrested that day and sentenced to five years in prison later in January 2021. Journalist and fellow "For Freedom" activist Volha Bykouskaja suggested that Ashurak got a long sentence because the authorities tried to suppress the regional protests in the first place.

Ashurak was a human rights and environmental activist in the Lida region – he took part in the local municipal elections and also drew the attention of the media and international organizations to the ecological damage caused by the local vitreous fibers manufacturer. Earlier in 2016, he was fined by the local court for the “unauthorized protest”.

Two weeks before he was announced dead, Ashurak sent a postcard to his family from prison. He mentioned that the detention facility authorities had forced all the “political prisoners” to wear the yellow labels. It was the last time when anyone, including his family, heard from him.

After Ashurak’s family received the information about his death, they tried to contact the authorities in order to pick up the body but it hasn’t been released for the next several days. When his brother finally picked up the body, the head and other parts were heavily bandaged. Prison morgue employees explained that the body was accidentally dropped.

“Vitold’s family wasn’t allowed to do a postmortem examination”, – says the source close to his family. “His widow and family members in Belarus are threatened by the authorities.”

Ashurak’s widow says that her husband never suffered from a heart condition. She received his death certificate stating “an unidentified cause of death”. His funeral is happening today in Lida, Belarus.