A MAN who defecated outside the office of a friend of Vladimir Putin has died “in unknown circumstances” while in prison.
Belarusian artist Ales Pushkin, 57, died in Grodno in the west Belarus He is in prison for five years, according to his wife human rights freedom fighters.
He died of unknown causes, although he was not known to have been ill, the Viasna Human Rights Center report said.
His wife, Janina Demuch, told the AP that he died in intensive care prison in uncertain circumstances.
Belarusian authorities did not comment.
Pushkin was a political musician and cartoonist, whose title was often the president Alexander Lukashenkothe oppressive leader of the country.
The artist painted Lukashenko in hell, surrounded by chaos the policeon a fresco in a church in the Belarusian city of Bobr.
In 1999, Pushkin was sentenced to two years for defecating on the President, when he rolled a cart of feces at the entrance of the presidential office in Minsk, the capital of the country.
Pushkin took part in anti-political demonstrations.
In March 2021, he was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison for inciting hatred and insulting state symbols.
Apparently, at one of his shows, Pushkin painted a Belarusian who he was associated with Here we are time World War II.
At the verdict, Ales stripped in protest, for which he was jailed for 13 days.
Belarus was hit by massive protests Lukashenko was re-elected in August 2020 in a vote that some citizens and Western officials see as fraudulent.
The authorities replied that a to destroy violently which led to the arrest of over 35,000 people, police crackdowns and the closure of many non-governmental organizations and independent media.
According to Viasna, Belarus has imprisoned around 1,500 political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski.
Deposed Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya he said he was heartbroken over Pushkin’s death, and wanted to investigate.
“It is clear that Pushkin has been victimized again by the Lukashenko government,” he said. “Thousands of political prisoners are suffering in the prisons of Belarus for taking part in democratic protests, supporting. Ukraineor simply expressing what they believe.”
Last month, Lukashenko revealed this by accident Putin he was showed him a peace treaty above the Ukraine war.
The leader of Belarus surprisingly said that the agreement amounted to a humiliating defeat Russia in the Crimea.
Lukashenko is the Kremlin’s only ally in Europe and speaks to Putin regularly.
Lukashenko’s comments came after he boasted Russian nuclear weapons arrived in Belarus and vowed that he would “not hesitate” to use it.
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