Belarusian Accused Of Insulting Lukashenka Dies Awaiting Trial

A Belarusian man accused of insulting authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka has died in a pretrial detention center in the city of Brest, just days before his trial was to begin.

The Vyasna human rights group said in a statement on April 11 that Alyaksandr Kulinich died two days earlier, with sources telling it the official cause of death was listed as coronary disease. He died two days before what would have been his 52nd birthday, Vyasna added.

The cause of death has not been independently verified. Local media reported that Kulinich's family has already taken custody of the body, but gave no further details.

"Vitold Ashurak, Mikalai Klimovich, Ales Pushkin, Vadzim Khrasko, Ihar Lednik, and now Alyaksandr Kulinich have all died in Belarusian prisons for opposing the regime. For many political prisoners held incommunicado in Belarus, it is unknown whether they are dead or alive," opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya said on X, formerly Twitter.

Kulinich was taken into custody on February 29 and held since then in pretrial detention center No. 7 in Brest, near Belarus's western border with Poland, Vyasna said.

Details of the case against Kulinich were not made public.

Thousands of Belarusians have been detained or imprisoned since wide-scale protests in 2020 against presidential election results that gave Lukashenka a sixth term in office despite extensive evidence of fraud.

The United States, the European Union, and several other countries have refused to acknowledge Lukashenka as the winner of the vote and imposed several rounds of sanctions on him and his regime, citing election fraud and the crackdown.

Lukashenka, who has ruled the country with an iron fist since 1994, has refused to negotiate with the opposition, and many of its leaders -- including Tsikhanouskaya -- have been arrested or forced to leave the country.