{"id":584936,"date":"2026-10-04T13:24:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T10:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=584936"},"modified":"2026-10-04T16:02:40","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T13:02:40","slug":"vitsyebsk-psychiatrist-ihar-pastnou-dies-in-navapolatsk-penal-colony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/vitsyebsk-psychiatrist-ihar-pastnou-dies-in-navapolatsk-penal-colony","title":{"rendered":"Vitsyebsk Psychiatrist Ihar Pastnou Dies in Navapolatsk Penal Colony"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Vitsyebsk psychiatrist Ihar Pastnou<\/strong> has died in Penal Colony No. 1 in Navapolatsk. Human rights defender Pavel Levinau<\/strong> reported<\/a> this on Facebook, citing sources.<\/p>\n

“Ihar Alekseyevich Pastnou, a Vitsyebsk psychiatrist who refused to remain silent when he was expected to, has died. <\/em>In 2013, Pastnou was forcibly placed in a psychiatric hospital. His beliefs were presented as a manifestation of illness, while Ihar himself was restricted in his ability to participate in public and political life.<\/em><\/p>\n

A criminal case later followed over alleged defamation of Vitsyebsk prosecutor Yury Ramanouski<\/strong>. Pastnou claimed that the prosecutor had abused his position. Ramanouski himself was subsequently prosecuted and convicted.<\/em><\/p>\n

But the persecution of Ihar did not end there. He was deprived of his freedom again. In detention, he was subjected to degrading treatment and prolonged confinement in a punishment cell. According to available information, he spent about 150 days there in 2023. Ihar died in detention”<\/em>, he wrote.<\/p>\n

As Vitsiebskaya Viasna<\/a> writes, Pastnou was born in Vitsyebsk on May 30, 1968. He graduated with honors from Vitsyebsk Medical Institute, worked as a pediatrician for many years and later received additional training in psychiatry.<\/p>\n

He became widely known in 2013 after publicly criticizing problems in the operation of Vitsyebsk medical institutions. Following an appearance on Belsat TV, where Pastnou criticized the activities of then-chairman of the Vitsyebsk Regional Executive Committee Aliaksandr Kosinets<\/strong>, he was forcibly placed in a psychiatric hospital. He spent more than a month at the clinic.<\/p>\n

In 2014, Pastnou appealed to the Independent Psychiatric Association of Russia. Following an examination, specialists said he did not require psychiatric treatment.<\/p>\n

In 2018, criminal proceedings were opened against Pastnou on charges of defaming Vitsyebsk prosecutor Yury Ramanouski. In May 2019, a court found him guilty and sentenced him to three years of restricted freedom with placement in an open correctional facility. By July of the same year, Pastnou was free.<\/p>\n

He later worked as a psychiatrist at the Dokshytsy Central District Hospital. In 2020, Pastnou criticized Aliaksandr Lukashenka<\/strong> over the authorities’ response to the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n

Pastnou was subsequently detained again. According to human rights defenders, he was held at Penal Colony No. 1 in Navapolatsk and subjected to harsh treatment by the administration. Former prisoners spoke about his difficult conditions and prolonged confinement in a punishment cell. According to Pavel Levinau, Pastnou spent about 150 days in a punishment cell in 2023.<\/p>\n

The exact circumstances and cause of Pastnou’s death remain unknown.<\/p>\n

“He had no immediate family of his own: his mother, with whom he lived, also died. But Ihar was not alone. He had friends and associates who supported him and continued to speak about him after his imprisonment. Now they want to give Ihar a proper burial. But according to available information, the state is refusing to hand over his body to them. And this is a particular cruelty of what is happening: the person has already died, but even after his death the system continues to control what remains of him. The circumstances of Ihar Pastnou’s death require investigation and an independent inquiry”<\/em>, he stressed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vitsyebsk psychiatrist Ihar Pastnou has died in Penal Colony No. 1 in Navapolatsk. Human rights defender Pavel Levinau reported this on Facebook, citing sources. “Ihar Alekseyevich Pastnou, a Vitsyebsk psychiatrist who refused to remain silent when he was expected to, has died. In 2013, Pastnou was forcibly placed in a psychiatric hospital. His beliefs were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":584935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sharing_image":{"poster":"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/6ac24e74ab7cb.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"template":"691142dd","mode":"auto"},"_sharing_image_fieldset":{"dTVKfmI95PYT":"Vitsyebsk Psychiatrist Ihar Pastnou Dies in Navapolatsk Penal Colony"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[142339,142338],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-584936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main","category-news"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584936"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":584937,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584936\/revisions\/584937"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}