Tragic Loss: Political Prisoner from Russia Passes Away in Belarus Detention Center

A Russian individual serving time in a Belarusian prison under what critics of the government describe as politically motivated accusations has passed away, the human rights organization Viasna reported on Monday.

Andrei Podnebenny, aged 36, was taken into custody in late 2021 during a significant crackdown on opposition following President Aleksandr Lukashenko’s contentious victory in the previous year’s election.

In 2022, a Belarusian court sentenced him to 16 years and eight months for managing an «extremist» Telegram channel, vandalizing multiple trolleybuses, and igniting a vehicle owned by the prison authorities.

His mother, Valentina Podnebennaya, stated that he died last Wednesday in a prison located in the eastern city of Mogilev. “Some scoundrel robbed him of his freedom and then of his life,” she posted on Facebook. The specific cause of his death has not been revealed.

According to Viasna, which categorized him as a political prisoner, Podnebenny is believed to be the ninth political prisoner to have died in Belarus since 2020. The organization reports that nearly 1,200 political prisoners are still incarcerated.

“Most of these fatalities were due to inadequate medical care amid inhumane, brutal, and unlawful treatment of political prisoners,” noted Belarusian opposition figure Valery Kavaleuski in a post on X.