Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has been suppressing all opposition for years. Now one of his critics has died in custody.
A critic of President Alexander Lukashenko, Igor Lednik, who was imprisoned in Belarus, has died in prison at the age of 64. His former party, the social democratic Gramada, announced this on Tuesday on the Telegram online service. The human rights organization Wiasna confirmed the information.
The democracy activist and journalist Lednik was arrested in December 2022 and later sentenced to three years in prison for “defaming” President Lukashenko. According to his former party, this was about publication in a party newspaper.
Human rights organization: More than 1,000 political prisoners
In prison, his health had “deteriorated significantly,” according to the party, which is kept alive by exiled Belarusians. Accordingly, Lednik had undergone surgery for a problem with the digestive tract and also suffered from heart problems. The party did not disclose the exact cause of his death or the time of death.
Since Lukashenko's controversial re-election as president in 2020, which critics denounced as fraud, all opposition in the country has been massively suppressed. According to Wiasna, 1,400 political prisoners are in prison in Belarus. Lukashenko is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
