Ukraine boosts security for Belarus dissidents

Ukrainian security services were ordered to protect Belarus dissidents after a Belarusian NGO founder was found dead in a Kyiv park on Monday.

"Every Belarusian who can become the target of criminals because of their public political position must obtain special and reliable protection," Ukraineꞌs president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday.

With Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko cracking down on free speech, authorities fear that the aid worker could have been killed.

What has Ukraine done following the death?

Ukraine's president Zelenskyy ordered a "comprehensive investigation" into the death of Belarusian activist Vitaly Shishov, who was leading a project called the Belarusian House in Ukraine. Shishov was found hanged in a Kyiv park after going for his morning run. His friends say he reported being followed in recent days.

Through his NGO, Shishov helped compatriots escape Lukashenkoꞌs repression and was helping them settle in Ukraine.

Kyiv police investigating Shishov's death said they were looking at all possibilities including "murder disguised as a suicide."

Now Zelenskyy is calling for the Interior Ministry and the SBU security service to look into "possible risks" for Belarusian activists so they can "eliminate any threat."

What is happening inside Belarus?

Protests erupted last year over Alexander Lukashenkoꞌs return to office in elections the US said were neither "free nor fair."

After they died down, the pro-Russian leader arrested about 35,000 activists and journalists involved in the demonstrations.

Many of those who did not escape to Ukraine, Poland or Lithuania were locked up and put on trial.

On Wednesday, Maria Kolesnikova, a leading member of the Belarusian Coordination Council that opposed Lukashenko, went on trial after nearly a year in detention. Kolesnikova ripped up her passport at the frontier when she was being expelled to Ukraine by Belarusian security forces. She could now face up to 12 years behind bars in her native country.

"Freedom is worth fighting for. Do not be afraid to be free,"  Kolesnikova said last year. "I do not regret anything and would do the same again."

A former Belarusian minister speaks up

Pavel Latushka, a former Belarusian government minister and diplomat told DW of how there were "many examples of repression against Belarusian people every day."

He said: "More than 40,000 people were arrested, detained in the territory of Belarus during last year, many thousands of people tortured."

On the death of Shishov, Latushka claimed that President Lukashenko had set up "a special fund" of €1.5 million to "organize killing of political activists abroad.

"Lukashenko personally said it many times that he will punish all who are against him," added Poland-based Latushka. He now hopes that as "guests in Europe" the government "will help us in the questions of security."

jc/dj (AP, AFP)