Det är med stor sorg vi i Svenska PEN mottagit beskedet att konstnären och medlemmen i PEN Belarus, Ales Pusjkin, avlidit ”under oklara omständigheter”. Enligt hans hustru dog han på fängelsets intensivvårdsavdelning och det fanns inga uppgifter om att han led av bakomliggande sjukdomar.
Ales Pusjkin har i många år varit en skarp kritiker av Lukasjenkas regim. Han avtjänade ett femårigt straff i Grodnofängelset. Anklagelserna och domen mot Pusjkin var helt klart rättsvidriga och politiskt motiverade – en bestraffning för hans fredliga protester mot regimen.
Svenska PEN har idag skrivit till president Lukasjenka och krävt en opartisk utredning av Ales Pusjkins död. Läs brevet här:
Yours Excellency,
It is with great sorrow Swedish PEN has learnt of the tragic death of well-known artist Ales Puškin in the prison of Grodno in western Belarus, where he was serving a five-year sentence.
According to reports he died under unclear circumstances in intensive care unit of the prison, he was not known to be sick. It is therefore of utmost importance that the cause of his death be throroughly investigated.
Swedish PEN is a branch of PEN International, the world-wide organisation defending the fundamental and universal right to freedom of expression. We have for a long time expressed our grave concern about the human rights situation in Belarus with the brutal crack-down in 2021 that resulted in the arrests of more than 35,000 people, police beatings and the shutdown of many non-governmental organisations and independent media outlets.
According to Viasna, Belarus has jailed nearly 1,500 political prisoners, including the Nobel peace prize winner Ales Bialiatski.
Ales Puškin has for years been persecuted because of his active participation in political opposition protests. In 1999 Puškin was sentenced to two years and he was arrested again in March 2021, and sentenced to five years in prison for inciting hatred and “desecration of state symbols”. The charges against Ales Puškin are a breach against international law, they are clearly politically motivated, related to him engaging in peaceful protests
We call on you Mr President to cease the persecution of political opponents and to honour the obligations of states under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to respect freedom of opinion and freedom of expression.
Prison conditions are known for being very harsh in Belarus, we call for an independent inquiry into the death of Ales Puškin and that the findings be made public.
Yours sincerely,
Elisabeth Löfgren
Chair, Writers in Prison Committee, Swedish PEN
Foto: Serge Serebro