GENEVA - A group of UN independent experts* today called for the immediate launch of effective and transparent investigations into the deaths of individuals who were deprived of their liberty for expressing political dissent.
"Over the past four years, several individuals identified by human rights defenders as political prisoners have died in custody or shortly after being released," the experts said.
They stressed that these deaths occurred amid consistent reports of ill-treatment of individuals deprived of liberty for expressing disagreement with the authorities, including participants in protests surrounding the 2020 presidential elections. "Where an individual dies in custody, the presumption of their arbitrary deprivation of life can only be rebutted on the basis of a proper investigation," the experts said.
In late May, widespread reports emerged that Valiantsin Shtermer, a 61-year-old businessman, had died in Correctional Colony No. 17 in Šklou. He had been convicted for making critical comments about the Russian Federation's military invasion of Ukraine. Despite his serious medical condition, he was reportedly mistreated by the prison administration and denied proper medical care.
Four years ago, in May 2021, 50-year-old opposition activist and Belarusian National Front party member Vitold Ashurak died in suspicious circumstances in the same colony shortly after being transferred there and placed in a punishment isolation cell (SHIZO). He had been convicted for violating public order.
On 16 June 2025, the experts wrote to the Belarusian authorities to express their concerns about possible grave human rights violations surrounding these two deaths. They recalled that, in 2023, they had written to the Government about the death of the artist Alés Puškin while he was serving a sentence in the prison no. 1 in Hrodna - reportedly after being denied timely medical care. They have not received a response to that letter, which requested an investigation into Puškin's death.
"It is of the utmost importance to thoroughly investigate the alleged instances of ill-treatment and neglect that resulted in the deaths of Shtermer, Ashurak, Puškin and other persons designated as political prisoners by human rights defenders," the experts said. "There are strong reasons to believe that these individuals lost their lives in retaliation for exercising their civil and political rights, including the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly."
"We are also concerned that some of these individuals have been stigmatised by the authorities as 'extremists' or 'terrorists'," the experts said, recalling that they had repeatedly called on Belarus to bring its counter-terrorism and anti-extremism legal framework in line with its international human rights law obligations.
