Belarus: Lukashenko denies involvement in activist Shishev's death

Enlarge image

Ruler Lukashenko: "He was nobody for us"

Photo: Pavel Orlovsky / dpa

Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko has denied any involvement of his country's authorities in the death of activist Vitaly Shishev in Ukraine.

"Schischow, who is that for me or for Belarus?" Said Lukashenko on Monday at a press conference in Minsk.

“He was nobody to us.

Who would have gone there to hang him? "

In the past, Russian President Vladimir Putin had expressed himself in a similarly condescending manner after the poison attack on the Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

“Why poison it right away?

Who cares? ”Putin asked with a fake laugh.

Lukashenko railed against Olympians Timanovskaya

Schischow was found hanged in a park in the Ukrainian capital Kiev last week.

The Ukrainian authorities are investigating, among other things, "murder disguised as suicide".

Schischow's environment assumes a "targeted operation" by the Belarusian secret service.

The 26-year-old ran an organization that helps Belarusians emigrate to Ukraine.

The incident also strains relations between the two neighboring states.

Volodymyr Zelenskyi, President of Ukraine, ordered his country's security authorities to provide additional protection to Belarusian exiles as a result of the mysterious death.

Lukashenko also railed against Belarusian Olympic participant Kristina Timanovskaya at the press conference a year after his controversial re-election.

The sprinter had said at the Tokyo Games that she was afraid of being kidnapped after criticizing sports officials in her country.

She then left Japan and went to Poland, where she received a humanitarian visa.

"She would never have done it alone," said Lukashenko.

"She was instructed by her Polish buddies."

The head of state, who has ruled in an authoritarian manner for almost three decades, was declared the winner of the presidential election a year ago despite massive allegations of fraud.

This triggered unprecedented mass protests in Belarus, which were brutally suppressed by the security forces.

Since then, the authorities have acted with increasing severity against government critics.

Many Belarusians are fleeing to neighboring Ukraine, Poland or Lithuania in the face of repression.

fek / muk / AFP / Reuters