Recently, in Belarus, one of the most prominent artists of the country, the political prisoner Ales Pushkin, passed away in prison. Ales died in the intensive care unit, but further details surrounding his death remain unknown.

The 57-year-old Ales Pushkin was renowned as a non-conformist painter, theatrical artist, performer, and art curator. However, few know that during the Soviet era, he also served in Afghanistan. Ales is inseparably linked to the history of the Belarusian national revival. For many Belarusians, he is most remembered for his impactful “Manure for the President” protest action in 1999. During this performance, Ales Pushkin overturned a wheelbarrow filled with manure in front of Alexander Lukashenko’s administration. As a result, the artist was sentenced to a two-year conditional term for this act.

Ales Pushkin was known for conducting numerous performances. He initiated one of Belarus’s earliest private non-profit contemporary art galleries in Vitebsk. In addition, Ales dedicated himself to the restoration and revitalization of mural paintings in Orthodox churches and cathedrals. His creative talents also extended to stage design, where he skillfully crafted costume sketches for a variety of theatrical productions.

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Ales Pushkin was arrested on March 30, 2021, in the village of Zhilichi, Kirovsky District of Mogilev Oblast, where he was engaged in the restoration work of a local palace. He was charged with “propagating Nazism” based on a series of portraits he had created two decades ago depicting figures from the anti-Soviet underground during World War II. In late March 2022, Ales was sentenced to five years of strict regime colony imprisonment, and he was immediately recognized as a political prisoner. In November of the same year, Ales was transferred to prison for a year and a half, which was a significant sentencing enhancement.

According to witnesses, Ales Pushkin was brought to the hospital already in a dying state. The political prisoner and artist had been diagnosed with a perforated ulcer. Despite clear symptoms observed by the medical staff at the medical unit of Grodno Prison No. 1, timely assistance was not provided.

This is how the Belarusian regime kills its political opponents in prisons. Ales Pushkin, Vitold Ashurok, Nikolai Klimovich, and several other lesser-known individuals have fallen victim to this oppression. Additionally, the fate of people like Nikolai Statkevich, Viktor Babariko, and Maria Kolesnikova has remained unknown for several months. All of them are imprisoned, and nobody knows what has happened to them. As for political prisoner Zmitser Dashkevich, who completed his full term, he simply did not leave the colony.

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