GENEVA: The United Nations (UN) on Tuesday called on the Ukrainian authorities to conduct a thorough investigation after a missing Belarusian activist was found hanged in a park in Kiev.
The UN human rights office said the intimidation of civil society in Belarus had to stop, but stressed it was not drawing a direct connection between the death of Vitaly Shishov and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s crackdown on dissent.
“This adds another level to our concerns and our worries about what is happening in Belarus,” spokeswoman Marta Hurtado told reporters in Geneva.
Shishov, 26, headed the Belarusian House in Ukraine, a non-governmental organisation helping his compatriots flee repression in Belarus.
The missing activist was found hanged in a park in the Ukrainian capital, police said on Tuesday, adding they had opened a murder probe.
“Regarding the investigation in Ukraine… we hope the authorities there are going to conduct a thorough, impartial and effective investigation into what happened and see if it was a suicide, if it was a regular criminal murder of if there’s a relation with his activism,” said Hurtado.
Lukashenko has been clamping down on any form of dissent since mass protests erupted following last year’s elections, deemed unfair by the West.
“The situation is deteriorating clearly,” said Hurtado, from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
“We’ve seen it over the last week with the intimidation against civil society organisations and against journalists and the dissolution of dozens of civil society organisations in Belarus and the harassment to any dissent,” Hurtado said.
“This has to cease. This intimidation has to stop against civil society, media workers and anyone expressing a different view to the one the government has.
“Any person detained arbitrarily should be immediately released,” Hurtado added.
“We’re all worried about the situation in general in Belarus.”
