Photo: Semyon Skrepetsky (Simon Skrepetsky) / Facebook
The 44-year-old Russian cartoonist Robert Kuzovkov, who used the pseudonym Semyon Skrepetsky, was shot dead on the street on the morning of Monday 15 June in Biała Podlaska, in eastern Poland, near the border with Belarus. Kuzovkov was shot five times in the head, chest and back in a car park in the town, some 600 metres from the Belarusian consulate.
According to the BBC, Marcin Kozak, a spokesperson for the Lublin District Prosecutor’s Office, stated that an unidentified gunman approached the artist and shot him twice. “When the victim fell to the ground, the attacker approached him, fired three more shots and quickly fled the scene. Robert K. died at the scene,” he added. Five shell casings and a 9 mm Luger Geco bullet were recovered at the crime scene, Kozak said.
The artist, who was also a painter and sculptor and had been in exile in Poland since 2021, used his paintings to criticise figures such as Putin, the Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko and the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. According to various media reports, prior to his death, he posted messages on his Telegram account detailing the threats he had been receiving.
Three days before his death, he had staged a protest outside the Russian embassy in Berlin. In the video of the protest, posted by Semyon Skrepetsky on Facebook, he appears alongside a caricature of Stalin and Putin, throwing a Russian flag into a bin.
Although the reasons behind his murder remain unknown, various sources report that an investigation has been launched to establish the circumstances of what may be a targeted killing, and there is speculation that it could form part of a transnational campaign of repression. Two Belarusian nationals have been arrested.
Humour in Trouble: A Collection of Cases
Cases of cartoonists who have faced significant problems because of their satirical cartoons or illustrations. There are also some stories of other people who, whilst not cartoonists themselves, have run into trouble for sharing them.
