The head of a group helping people who have fled Belarus has been found dead near his home in neighbouring Ukraine.
Vitaly Shishov’s body was found hanged in a park in Kyiv, a day after he failed to return from a jog. Police have opened a murder inquiry.
Police said they were investigating whether he had been killed and his death made to look like suicide.
Meanwhile a Belarusian Olympic sprinter who feared for her safety has been granted a humanitarian visa by Poland.
Mr Shishov led the Belarusian House in Ukraine (BHU), a group helping people who left Belarus, where opposition to the government is stifled.
He was one of many Belarusians who left the country as the security forces violently suppressed protests following the disputed re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko in August 2020.
Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania – neighbours of Belarus – are the main destinations for those fleeing persecution.
The United Nations said Mr Shishov’s death adds another level to “our worries about what is happening in Belarus”, and called for an investigation.
Mr Shishov’s death is the latest incident to prompt international scrutiny of President Lukashenko’s authoritarian government.
At the Tokyo Olympics, sprinter Krystina Timanovskaya, 24, was granted a humanitarian visa by Poland after refusing her team’s order to fly back to Belarus early.
She said she had been forcibly taken to the airport for criticising team coaches, and voiced fears for her safety.
Earlier this year, there was an international outcry over the detention of opposition Belarusian journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend, after the Ryanair plane they were travelling on was forced to divert and land in Belarus.
