{"id":585429,"date":"2026-10-05T16:53:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T13:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=585429"},"modified":"2026-10-05T19:23:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T16:23:18","slug":"security-forces-call-reports-of-pastnou-s-death-in-prison-colony-fake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/security-forces-call-reports-of-pastnou-s-death-in-prison-colony-fake","title":{"rendered":"Security Forces Call Reports of Pastnou\u2019s Death in Prison Colony Fake"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Telegram channel linked to the Belarusian security forces has claimed that reports of psychiatrist Ihar Pastnou<\/strong> dying in a prison colony are fake.<\/p>\n

As evidence, the channel published a short video showing a man resembling Pastnou in prison clothing with a blank white identification tag. When the video is downloaded, its filename, assigned by the security forces, is visible \u2014 “postnov2.”<\/p>\n

\u201cHello. Article 167, Part 3 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus,\u201d<\/em> the man says without looking at the camera.<\/p>\n

The video is filmed in a way that shows a calendar on the wall. It has today\u2019s date, October 5, marked on it. However, this does not establish that the video was recorded on October 5.<\/p>\n

It should be recalled that reports of Ihar Pastnou\u2019s death in a prison colony in Vitsyebsk emerged on October 4<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Article 167 of the Criminal Code provides for liability for violent sexual acts. Part 3 covers \u201cacts provided for by Parts 1 or 2 of this Article committed against a person known to be a minor, or acts that negligently resulted in the death of the victim, caused serious bodily injury, HIV infection or other grave consequences.\u201d The punishment ranges from eight to 15 years in prison.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Pastnou became widely known in 2013 after publicly criticizing problems in the work of medical institutions in Vitsyebsk. After appearing on Belsat TV, where Pastnou criticized the activities of then-Vitsyebsk Regional Executive Committee Chairman Aliaksandr Kosinets<\/strong>, he was forcibly placed in a psychiatric hospital. He spent more than a month there.<\/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 assignment to an open-type 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\u2019 response to the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n

Pastnou was later imprisoned 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 of his difficult conditions and prolonged confinement in a punishment cell.<\/p>\n

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A Telegram channel linked to the Belarusian security forces has claimed that reports of psychiatrist Ihar Pastnou dying in a prison colony are fake. As evidence, the channel published a short video showing a man resembling Pastnou in prison clothing with a blank white identification tag. When the video is downloaded, its filename, assigned by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":585425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sharing_image":{"poster":"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/6ac3cefa9a3a8.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"template":"691142dd","mode":"auto"},"_sharing_image_fieldset":{"dTVKfmI95PYT":"Security Forces Call Reports of Pastnou\u2019s Death in Prison Colony Fake"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[142339,142338,143127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-585429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main","category-news","category-society"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585429","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=585429"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":585434,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585429\/revisions\/585434"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}