Russian pianist and anti-war activist Pavel Kushnir died in a detention center in Birobidzhan - in the Far East of the country . This was reported by human rights defenders. The 39-year-old man died as a result of a hunger strike, the Russian civil rights portal OVD-Info reported today.
Kushnir made no secret of his stance against the Russian invasion of neighboring Ukraine, had written a book against the war and maintained a small YouTube channel with anti-fascist messages. Journalist and human rights activist Olga Romanova reported that Kushnir also refused to take liquids during his hunger strike. No details have been given as to why he began to starve.
Pianist Olga Shkrigunova, who was a longtime acquaintance of Kushnir and lives in Germany, today confirmed his death on Facebook. He worked in the Philharmonic in Birobidzhan – administrative center of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in Russia, located near the Chinese border.
OVD-Info registered nearly 1,000 lawsuits against anti-war activists in Russia in its latest statistics. Nearly 300 people are imprisoned in pretrial detention centers, penal colonies or medical institutions.
On Thursday, Russia and the West swapped prisoners in a major operation. Ilya Yashin, a freed Russian opposition figure, said Friday in the German city of Bonn that he did not actually want to leave Russia. He claims that there are other seriously ill political prisoners whose rescue would be more urgent.