Vital Shyshou

Vitaly Vasilyevich Shishov (; 1995 – 2/3 August 2021), or Vital Vasilyevich Shyshou , was a Belarusian political activist and dissident in exile, who disappeared, and was found dead in Ukraine in August 2021. an organization that helps people to escape repressions following the 2020–2021 Belarusian protests. At the age of 26, Shishov went missing from his home in Kyiv and was found dead, hanging from a tree in a park near the place where he lived. His suspicious and unexpected death has raised public concerns about his possible assassination.

He is believed to have been killed by Belarusian government agents.

Biography Shishov was from the region of Gomel in Belarus, near the border with Ukraine and Russia.

While living in Ukraine, Shishov was aware of the possible dangers to himself from Belarusian government reprisals. He took to photographing the license plates of cars and people who appeared suspicious whom he saw in Kyiv.

Death On 2 August 2021, Shishov put on his jogging clothes and is believed to have gone on a run.

Later that day, Vitaly was reported missing in Kyiv by his partner. By the next day, he was found hanged in Sviatoshynsky Forest Park, a park near his home. Ukrainian police opened a criminal case into his death and would investigate whether it was a suicide or "premeditative murder meant to look like suicide." The head of Ukrainian police highlighted that his body has been found with abrasions and peeled skin in several places.

A week prior to his death, Shishov helped organize a rally in Kyiv that marked the 31st anniversary of Belarus's independence from the Soviet Union. Shishov was buried on September 26, 2021, in Kyiv.

Following Shishov's death, Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, ordered law enforcement agencies to more closely protect Belarusian exiles.

In an 9 August press conference, President Lukashenko denied that Belarusian security services had killed Shishov, calling the activist "a nobody."