MINSK, May 4. /TASS/. The first leader of Belarus, as an independent state, Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus from 1991 to 1994 Stanislav Shushkevich passed away in Minsk aged 87, the politician’s widow Irina Shushkevich told TASS on Wednesday.
"He passed away overnight, at home," she specified. According to the widow, currently the late politician’s relatives are busy working on his funeral arrangements, so they have not yet been contacted by official structures.
She hopes that her spouse will be buried at Minsk’s Vostochnoye Cemetery where the wake can be held at a funeral hall on Olshevskaya Street. "We are dealing with these issues, and just making plans right now," the widow added. She noted that many condolences have already been received.
As Chairman of the Belarusian Social Democratic Assembly Sergey Cherechen told TASS, the party that Shushkevich used to lead will assist in organizing the funeral. "We visited the Vostochnoye cemetery, they said that in order to be laid to rest at the Central lane where statesmen and famous people are buried, a decision by the authorities is needed," he noted.
Reports earlier revealed that this year Shushkevich had come down with the coronavirus infection and was hospitalized. After he was discharged, his health was on the rebound though he still found it hard to cope with the aftermath of the disease.
Biography
Stanislav Shushkevich was born in 1934 in Minsk. He graduated from the physics and math department of the Belarusian State University, then studied at the graduate school of the Physics Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic, worked as a pro-rector for science of the Belarusian State University. In 1991, he was elected an associate member of the Academy of Sciences of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. In May of 1990, he was elected as First Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council. In 1991-1994 he chaired the 12th Belarusian Supreme Council. Shushkevich took part in the Belovezh Accords in December 1991 with Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk where the historic decision was made to create the CIS and dissolve the USSR.
After Alexander Lukashenko was elected president, the politician joined the opposition. In 1998-2018, he chaired the Belarusian Social Democratic Assembly opposition party, and since November 2018 he has been its honorary chairman. In retirement, he lectured at various universities in Russia, the United States, Lithuania, Poland and other countries. Shushkevich was awarded a top-ranking title for his occupation and professional work from the then Belarusian Soviet republic. In addition, he wrote a number of thesis publications (monographs), and was the author of over 150 articles and created 50 inventions.