A 22-year-old political prisoner died in Belarus, human rights activists report

A 22-year-old political prisoner died behind bars in Belarus, the country’s oldest human rights organization reported on Saturday.

Russian Dmytro Schlethauer, who served 12 years in prison for espionage and “facilitating extremist activities”, became the seventh dissident to die in prison from Minsk severe and large-scale repressions began about the opposition in 2020, Vyasna reports.

A huge protest swept across Belarus after disputed elections which gave authoritarian President Oleksandr Lukashenka a sixth term in power and which his critics and the West condemned as rigged. In response, the authorities arrested tens of thousands.

Human rights groups say the country currently holds about 1,300 political prisoners, and that many are denied proper medical care and contact with their families.

As “Vyasna” reports, whose founder, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatsky, is himself in prisonBelarusian authorities refused to disclose the cause of Schlethauer’s death, which occurred on October 11, but became known only recently.

“The death of another political prisoner is an illustration of the catastrophe in Belarusian prisons, where conditions reminiscent of torture are created, where political prisoners are denied medical care, and opposition leaders are kept incommunicado for more than a year,” said a representative of “Vyasna” » Pavlo Sapelka. AP.

“A young man died behind bars, and the authorities are responsible,” he said.

According to Sapelka, Schlethauer became a father while incarcerated. The citizen of Russia, who received a residence permit in Belarus in 2018, worked at a polymer factory before his arrest, Sapelka said.

Oppositionist in exile Svitlana Tsikhanovsky, whose husband is Serhiy Tsikhanovsky is serving 19 and a half years of imprisonment in Belarus, called for an independent investigation into Schlethauer’s death and said international experts should be allowed into the country’s prisons.

“We must learn the truth about deaths in prisons, which have turned into a black hole in Belarus. Urgent international action is needed to prevent more,” Tsikhanovska said.