UN human rights experts ask Belarusian authorities to help a political prisoner dying of cancer
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — U.N. human rights experts have appealed to Belarusian authorities to help a political prisoner who has been diagnosed with an advanced form of cancer.
The experts expressed the “utmost concern” about the denial of medical assistance to Pavel Kuchynski, 29, who was detained in 2022 and sentenced to four years and nine months in prison on charges on insulting the president and threatening to use violence.
Kuchynski was diagnosed with advanced Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which worsened in prison where conditions make it impossible for him to receive a bone marrow transplant, the U.N. experts said in a statement.
Belarusian authorities have cracked down harshly on any form of dissent since the country was rocked by mass protests during President Alexander Lukashenko’s disputed 2020 reelection. The Belarusian opposition and the West denounced the result of the vote as fraudulent.