A 22-year-old political prisoner has reportedly died in a Belarusian prison, as announced by the nation’s prominent human rights organization this past Saturday.
Dmitriy Schletgauer, originally from Russia, was serving a significant 12-year sentence on charges related to espionage and “facilitating extremist activities.” His death marks the seventh case of a dissident dying in custody since the government of Minsk intensified its crackdown on political opposition in 2020, according to information from the Viasna rights center.

Following a contentious election, which resulted in authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko securing a sixth term—a victory that critics, alongside Western nations, deemed fraudulent—mass protests erupted throughout Belarus. The government’s response included the arrest of numerous individuals, totaling in the tens of thousands.

Human rights advocates estimate that the current political prisoner count in Belarus stands at approximately 1,300, with many individuals reportedly facing inadequate medical treatment and restricted communication with family members.

The Viasna organization, which is noteworthy for having a founder, Ales Bialiatski, who has also been imprisoned, reported that Belarusian officials have not made public the cause of Schletgauer’s death, which occurred on October 11 but has recently come to light.

“The death of yet another political prisoner highlights the dire situation in Belarusian prisons, which can be characterized as torturous, where those incarcerated are frequently denied medical care, and opposition figures have been kept incommunicado for over a year,” stated Pavel Sapelka, a representative of Viasna.

“It is the authorities who are accountable for the death of this young man in custody,” he added.

Sapelka noted that Schletgauer had welcomed a child into the world while being detained. Originally a Russian citizen, he obtained a residency permit in Belarus in 2018 and was employed at a polymer manufacturing facility before his arrest.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, an opposition leader currently in exile and whose husband, Siarhei Tsikhanouski, is serving a lengthy 19.5-year sentence in Belarus, has called for an independent inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Schletgauer’s death. She emphasized the need to allow international experts access to the country’s prisons.

“We must discover the truth behind the fatalities occurring in prisons, which have become an abyss in Belarus. Immediate international intervention is crucial to avert further tragedies,” Tsikhanouskaya urged.