Human rights activist Barys Zvozskau passed away

Prominent human rights defender Barys Zvozskau died after losing his battle with cancer.

He was 63.

The activist passed away at a cancer hospital near Minsk on the night between June 16 and 17. He had received treatment for his disease both in Israel and Belarus, reports BelaPAN.

Barys Zvozskau was born in Belogorsk, Russia, in 1949.

After Lukashenka’s coming to power, he became started human rights activity and was one of the founders of Human Rights House in Vilnius.

“All Belarusian human rights defenders are under the sword of Damocles, they may be punished at any moment. The Criminal Code of Belarus still has the article on ‘Defamation of the Republic of Belarus’ and it is not of a big hardship to be accused of such defamation. We, Belarusian human rights activists, did not get used to it, but security issues are our daily job and we do it automatically. No one of us ponders over the thing that it is right to eat soup with a spoon, but not with a fork,” said Barys Zvozskau.