Investigation: activist Ašurak was murdered in prison

June 24, Pozirk. Opposition activist Vitold Ašurak died after suffering a serious head injury in prison, being denied timely medical care, found an investigation conducted by human rights defenders.

The conclusion is based on 18 testimonies by other victims of ill-treatment who had served their prison terms between December 2020 and June 2024 at the Škłoŭ penal colony, where Ašurak died in May 2021. The government’s probe into the accident has stalled.

Ašurak had his head hit against a wall or was “brutally beaten with batons, including on the head,” Siarhiej Uścinaŭ, co-founder of the Pravavaja Inicyjatyva and the International Committee for the Investigation of Torture in Belarus, has said at an online presentation.

Rights defenders identified Siarhiej Karčeŭski and Alaksiej Maskaloŭ as the most likely assailants, with most victims pointing at both as those responsible for beatings, torture and other forms of violence at the penal colony, Uścinaŭ said. Doctors who failed to provide timely assistance are also to blame, he added.

Ašurak died under unclear circumstances behind bars four years ago. He was arrested in August 2020, following the disputed presidential election and sentenced to several short jail terms before being charged in a criminal case.

In early 2021, judge Maksim Fiłataŭ in Lida, Hrodna region, sentenced him to five years in prison on protest-related charges. Rights groups dismissed Ašurak’s persecution as politically motivated.

Rights groups and pro-democracy leaders declared the day of his death, May 21, International Day of Solidarity with Belarusian Political Prisoners.

Besides Ašurak, several other designated political prisoners died in recent years behind bars, including Mikałaj Klimovič, Aleś Puškin, Vadzim Chraśko, Ihar Lednik, Alaksandar Kulinič and Dmitry Shletgauer. The most recent reported case is the death of Valancin Štermier in early 2025.

On June 24, human rights defenders identified at least 1,173 political prisoners but the real number is considerably higher because many cases go undocumented.

Also read: Rights defenders pay tribute to dissident Ašurak on scheduled release date