Salihorsk human rights activist Jana Paliakova commited suicide on March 7th. Saturday morning she was found dead at her home.

On Tuesday, March 3 Salihorsk jury judged her for 2.5 years of freedom limitation (semi-prison regime, close to ‘public works’) and for paying $400 to retired police captain Pugatchov as a compensation “for the public lie” against him.

Earlier Paliakova accused police captain Pugatchov in harmful actions during autumn incident, when she arrived in police office to resolve conflict with her neighbour.

On Thursday Leanid Marhotka, member of Belarusian Helsinki Commitee, told in interview to the Radio Freedom (reposted in liberal opposition newspaper “Narodnaja volia”), that Jana was not active in human rights movement for last years. “She’s rather neither politician nor HR protector” told Marhotka “we did not hear about her for long in Salihorsk… although she introduced herself in Paris, London, Warsaw”. Marhotka told Jana refused to give publicity for the incident in police office, even after direct propositions.

Day before the suicide, on Friday, main government newspaper “Soviet Byelorussia” published big sarcastic editorial, where Jana was called workless swindler trying to inflate world-wide scandal without a reason.

Couple of days after suicide “Soviet Byelorussia” removed article from the web site. “Narodnaya volia” published new article, were Jana was called a human rights hero and the lonely warrior fighting for civil people’s rights against autocratic voluntarism.

She was 33. Suffered from depression. She told she never will be imprisoned.

// wikified