Reuters Reuters
4 August, 2021, 5:06 pm
A view of the site where Vitaly Shishov, who led a Kyiv-based organisation that helps Belarusians fleeing persecution, was found dead in Kyiv, Ukraine August 3, 2021. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
KYIV (Reuters) -A Belarusian activist living in exile in Ukraine was found hanged in a park near his home in Kyiv early on Tuesday, and Ukrainian police launched a murder investigation.
Vitaly Shishov, who led a Kyiv-based organisation that helps Belarusians fleeing persecution, had been reported missing by his partner on Monday after failing to return home from a run.
Police said they were considering the possibility of suicide or of a murder staged to appear as suicide. Shishov had been found with abrasions on his nose and knee but it was too early to determine whether he had been attacked, Ukraine’s national police chief, Ihor Klymenko, told a briefing.