On February 20, Ihar Lednik, human rights activist, public and political figure, died in the colony. He received three years (and eventually a death sentence) from the “judge” Tatsiana Shotik for his critical publications. He became the fifth political prisoner to die in prison.
Igor Lednik was born on December 12, 1960 in Minsk. He received a higher technical education and in the early 1990s he was the founder and head of commercial enterprises “Yason” and “Lima”. Igor was one of the first in Belarus to become an advocate of entrepreneurs' rights — he was the initiator of the creation of the Coordinating Council on Intellectual Property and coordinator of the human rights movement “Our Belarus”, deputy director of the “Center for the Protection of Property Rights, Managers and Entrepreneurs”. He also joined the party movement — he was a member of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party and published journalistic articles in Belarus and abroad.
Igor Lednik was detained on April 12, 2022. He was accused of slandering Lukashenka and sentenced to three years in prison. The case was considered by “judge” Tatiana Shotik. According to the case materials, Lednik submitted an article for publication in a magazine with the title “Internationally recognized neutrality of Belarus — a guarantee of security in the OSCE region. It allegedly contained "knowingly false information, defaming and humiliating the honor and dignity of Lukashenko, coupled with accusations of particularly serious crimes, including crimes against human security.
The political prisoner was serving his sentence in Babruisk colony No. 2. In June 2022, the lawyer reported that the health condition of the political prisoner worsened, Igor was lying down in the sanitary unit of the detention center. In July it became known that the activist underwent surgery on the gastrointestinal tract. The cause of death of the political prisoner was cardiac arrest. Medics tried to resuscitate him, but without success. Igor Lednik died in the prison hospital in Koliadichy, where he was routinely taken from Babruisk colony No. 2, where he was serving his sentence.
I am opening this collection to honor the memory of my father, who died behind bars at the hands of the regime. The funds will be used to install a monument.
How much is needed?
€2000
€2000 — the cost of the monument