On March 26, 2021, the General Prosecutor’s Office of Belarus opened a criminal case against the artist for showing a portrait of an anti-Soviet underground figure Yevgeny Zhikhar at an exhibition in the Grodno Center for Urban Life. The prosecutor’s office saw this as a “rehabilitation of Nazism.” Ales Pushkin found out about the criminal case but did not cancel the flight from Ukraine, where he had an exhibition, and in the evening of the same day he returned home. At night, his workshop was searched. On March 29, Ales Pushkin was fired from Belrestavratsia, where he worked. The next day he was arrested. On April 6, 2021, by a joint statement of eight organizations, including the Viasna Human Rights Centre, the Belarusian Association of Journalists, the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, Pushkin was recognized as a political prisoner. On April 30, 2021, godparenthood for the political prisoner was undertaken by Camilla Hansén, Member of the Riksdag. Continue
