"The statute of limitations does not apply to such crimes." Death anniversary of artist Ales Pushkin

A year ago, on the night of July 10–11, 2023, 57-year-old political prisoner Ales Pushkin died. He was sentenced behind closed doors to five years in a penal colony for paintings at an exhibition in Hrodna and a performance in Kyiv in the spring of 2021. Ales Pushkin had a perforated ulcer in prison No. 1 in Hrodna and was not provided with medical care on time. The artist was already unconscious when escorted to the hospital, but it was too late: he died on the operating table. Today, on the anniversary of Ales Pushkin's death, we recall the details of his persecution, and a Viasna human rights activist recalls the collection of evidence about the conditions of detention of the political prisoner, which will become the basis for bringing to justice those responsible for his death in the future.

Photo: Ex Mihalenko / Facebook

Returned to Belarus as a matter of principle, with a criminal case awaiting him

In the spring of 2021, Ales Pushkin went to Kyiv to organize a performance there. There Ales recreated his most famous performance Manure for the President, but slightly updated: on the portrait of Aliaksandr Lukashenka, instead of a text saying "For 5 years of fruitful work", he poured red paint, which symbolized blood. This later became the reason for a criminal case under Article 370 of the Criminal Code (desecration of state symbols).

Ales Pushkin at the exhibition in Kyiv, March 25, 2022

Ales Pushkin said at the opening of the exhibition on March 25, 2021, shortly before his detention, that he was pleased to open the presentation of Belarusian contemporary art in Kyiv and at the same time sad:

"It's sad because 22 years later my performance is relevant, and I rolled this wheelbarrow into the Art Arsenal, did the same thing, only pouring red paint on the portrait of Lukashenka, who has already become a bloody dictator."

Recall that in July 1999, on the fifth anniversary of the reign of Aliaksandr Lukashenka, the artist rolled a wheelbarrow with manure to the presidential administration in Minsk. He scattered manure and outdated rubles, put the Constitution and a portrait of Lukashenka on top, and pierced it all with a pitchfork. For this action, the artist was also sentenced to two years of probation.

Upon his return to Belarus, a criminal case was already pending against the artist under Part 3 of Article 130 of the Criminal Code. The reason for it was the placement of portraits of representatives of the Belarusian anti-Soviet resistance Mikhail Vitushka, Usevalad Rodzka, and Yauhen Zhykhar at an exhibition in the Hrodna Center of Urban Life, interpreted as "rehabilitation and justification of Nazism". Knowing about the criminal case, Pushkin returned to Belarus as a matter of principle.

On March 30, 2021, the artist was detained. 

The artist's last performance during his trial  

Ales Pushkin during his trial

The trial of the artist began on March 10, 2022. 20 days later, judge Alena Shylko sentenced him to five years in a high security colony. 

At the trial, Ales was wearing a white jumpsuit with the word Belrestauratsyia, which he wore when he was detained on March 30, 2021 in the village of Žyličy, where the artist worked on the restoration of the Bulhakaŭ Palace. At the beginning of the trial, the political prisoner lay down on the bench and turned away. He was also brought into the building in a horizontal position, as he refused to go to court.

Viasna human rights activists were later told that at the trial he was carried while being handcuffed.

It is known that on March 25, 2022 (exactly one year after the performance), Ales Pushkin, in protest against his imprisonment and 5,000 political criminal cases opened in Belarus, cut his stomach. On March 30, during the announcement of the verdict, Pushkin undressed so that the scratches in the shape of a cross were visible, and demanded the release of all political prisoners.

Photographer Aliaksandr Vasiukovich took a drawing by artist Ales Pushkin from Valadarka prison. "Ales Pushkin was here, 2021–2022".

According to Viasna human rights activists, Ales Pushkin prepared 23 pages of his last word, but due to the fact that the trial was closed, the public did not hear it.

Viasna human rights activists learned that Ales was placed in a punishment cell on March 18, even before the performance at the trial. He was put their by the decision of the head of the detention center Andrei Tsedryk for "indecent behavior" at one of the court sessions. Ales was kept in punishment cell No. 2 for 15 days.

Pressure in the colony for using the Belarusian language 

Portrait of Ales Pushkin. Author: Uladzislau Makavetski

On April 15, 2022, Ales Pushkin was transferred from pre-trial detention center-1 to correctional colony No. 22. The artist once told his wife that the colony was "even worse than it was at Valadarskaha". In colony No. 22, the artist was friends with Uladzislau Makavetski, who knew him before his arrest. He told about the political prisoner in the colony: 

"Ales immediately said that he would not cooperate with the regime: he would not draw something for the administration of the colony. He said, 'This is not for me. I can draw something for a convict, but not for the administration and the colony.'

Ales said: '[Imprisonment] is game, and I'm playing it.'... That's how he imagined it, but in fact the regime wanted to break him. He didn't understand that... He wanted to make them understand, including the guards, that he was doing time for his art. They didn't get it... Or maybe they did. I do not know, but they treated him badly, basically."

The former political prisoner recalls that Ales was discriminated against in the colony because he used the Belarusian language:

"They told him, 'Speak normally!' He said, 'But I already do, here's me giving my report.' And they said, 'No, it's not normal, speak so that we could understand you.' They understood the Belarusian language, but they did it intentionally so that it would be difficult for him."

In August 2022, it became known that the administration of correctional institution No. 22 had placed the political prisoner in a punishment cell (PKT) for five months. On November 11, 2022, the judge of the Ivacevičy district Aliaksandr Kirylovich decided to transfer Ales Pushkin to the prison security level for a period of one and a half years. Shortly after that, the political prisoner was transferred to Hrodna Prison No. 1, where he remained until his death.

Detention and prosecution of the artist's lawyer for sharing information about his trial

Pavel Mazheika and Yuliya Yurhilevich at the trial

Yuliya Yurhilevich, a lawyer from Hrodna, defended Ales Pushkin, and later became a political prisoner herself. She was detained on August 30, 2022, upon her return from Poland to Belarus, along with a journalist and the head of a private institution, the Center for Urban Life Pavel Mazheika (it was in this space that the artist's paintings were exhibited). They were charged under Part 2 of Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code for "other assistance to extremist activities committed repeatedly by a group of persons by prior agreement."

According to the case materials, Yuliya Yurhilevich gave Pavel Mazheika information about her disbarment and expulsion from the Hrodna Regional Bar Association, as well as data on the hearing by the Minsk City Court of the criminal case against Ales Pushkin and his sentence. The prosecution believed that Pavel Mazheika transferred this data to unidentified persons for publication on Belsat in February–March 2022. His act is categorized as "an action by a group of persons in preliminary agreement with Yuliya Yurhilevich."

At the trial, the lawyer was wearing a robe with Punishment Cell 2 written on on. It was assumed that the woman was kept in a punishment cell, but perhaps this was a reference to the punishment cell No. 2 at Valadarka prison where Ales Pushkin was held during the trial. The case against the lawyer and the journalist was handled by judge Maksim Filatau, widely known for politically motivated sentences, including to political prisoner Vitold Ashurak, whose sentence was posthumous.

"We demand fair punishment of those responsible for his death"

A prison album at an exhibition in Kyiv, signed by Ales Pushkin a week before his detention. "Yuras! Just don't go to prison. It's awful there. Ales. Kyiv, 23.03.2021".

Viasna human rights activist Pavel Sapelko notes that there is evidence of the conditions of detention of the deceased political prisoner, which will become evidence in the investigation of the artist's death:

"Human rights activists and the media have been fighting for years to make a person's life a value for the authorities in Belarus, and his death in imprisonment an extraordinary event. After the events of 2020, the relatives of those who died or were killed in colonies and prisons had practically no chance for justice: no national preventive mechanism has been created in Belarus, and human rights organizations that had the opportunity to support the grueling struggle of loved ones for the truth about the last moments of a prisoner's life were outlawed by the authorities.

The information on prison healthcare and the inhumane attitude of officials that killed Ales Pushkin will eventually be the basis for criminal prosecution of those responsible. The statute of limitations does not apply to such crimes.

On this day, remembering Ales, paying tribute to his memory, we once again demand fair punishment for those responsible for his death. In addition, we must once again call on the authorities to unconditionally and without delay release all political prisoners, first of all those people who are in a particularly difficult and vulnerable state in places of detention due to their age and health status. This will not give them back their lost years, will not compensate for their suffering, and will not restore their health, but at least it will not multiply the number of new deaths, and therefore new crimes of accomplices of the regime."