Belarus At War With Itself
"The death takes place amid an unacceptable Belarusian crackdown on civil society, and we look forward to a complete and thorough investigation by Ukrainian authorities to establish its causes and circumstances."U.S. embassy in Kyiv"We were also repeatedly warned by both local sources and our people in the Republic of Belarus about all kinds of provocations, including kidnapping and liquidation.""Vitaly treated these warnings stoically and with humour."Belarusian House statement"I saw a silhouette of a person hanged on a horizontal bar. I recognized Vitaly's jacket. I came closer and I identified him.""[I overheard a police officer say]: His nose is broken. Something went wrong."Yuri Shchuchko, friend of Vitaly Shishov
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| Vitaly Shishov went missing on Monday in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv Tadeusz Giczan |
He was 26, a fugitive from Belarusian authorities who considered him a terrorist, as a critic and opponent of the regime whom resisters considered illegitimate after a contested election returning a dictator, Alexander Lukashenko to power under pretense of his having been legitimately re-elected by a landslide vote. All such dissenters were labelled 'terrorists', motivated and supported by villainous foreign powers attempting to create disorder in Belarus.
Vitaly Shishov had informed his friends of feeling under constant surveillance since leaving Belarus a year ago following his having been involved in anti-government protests. He knew of his vulnerability to being kidnapped or murdered for those threats were real, not imagined. So real that while living in exile in Ukraine he was indeed murdered, his body discovered in a park close to his home in Kyiv. Ukrainian police have launched a murder investigation feeling that his hanged body represented a ruse to suggest suicide.
He had been reported missing when he failed to return home after an early morning run. Ukraine's national police chief, Ihor Klymenko, explained that Mr. Shishov had been found with abrasions but before an autopsy took place it was too soon to determine whether these were signs of his having been violently attacked before being hung. All his personal belongings were found intact in his possession, including his cellphone.
He lived close to the western outskirts of Kyiv and went for a run in the woodland adjacent. Police Chief Klymenko spoke of scratches on Mr. Shishov's nose, his left knee and other areas on his body "consistent with a fall". The murdered man was head of the Belarusian House in Kyiv, an NGO meant to give assistance to Belarusian refugees fleeing the Lukashenko regime into Ukraine.
Another colleague who gave his name as Ihor, withholding his last name for fear of retribution being visited on his family back in Belarus, spoke of his friend recounting instances of his car being followed, his girlfriend being approached by strangers while they were staging protests in Kyiv. "Lukashenko's regime is at war, and he is at war. He is at war with anyone who can offer any resistance", Ihor stated.
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| Ukrainian police have cordoned off the site where Mr Shishov's body was found Reuters |
Labels: Belarus, Murder, Regime Opposition, Vitaly Shishov
posted by Pieface @ Thursday, August 05, 2021
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