Anti-war pianist dies in Putin jail
NewsThe Russian pianist Pavel Kushner died today in a Birobidzhan detention center while awaiting trial for allegedly ‘inciting terrorism’.
His offence was to read anti-Putin poems on a Youtube channel with five subscribers.
Kushner went on hunger strike and was left by his jailers to die. He was 39 years old.
Pavel Kushnir graduated from the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory. He spent seven years as a soloist with the Kursk Philharmonic and three with the Kurgan Philharmonic. Colleagues speak of his remarkable talent and persistence. ‘If he played Shostakovich’s preludes and fugues, he played all 24 in one evening. Even great pianists struggle with that. Once, when we were about fifteen, we bet that he wouldn’t bend under the system. And he didn’t. So, he won,’ said pianist Olga Shkrygunova.
Rest in peace, this is very, very sad news! This attitude is extremely courageous, a man of incredible integrity! Such achievements should be highly respected and applauded (instead Teodor Currentzis and co. are given so much attention and headlines, all kinds of engagements, applauses…)
Unspeakably tragic.
Very, very sad, and what beautiful playing. Such is the curse of Putin which should never be forgotten or forgiven.
He didn’t win. He died. He didn’t outlast Putin. That would be winning. Living to eighty or ninety, generations of influence. That would be winning. This is just a tragedy.
Why don’t you tell the whole story? He was caught with an FBI ID card. If an FSB spy was caught in the US, would they just be allowed to walk free? That said, it is of course sad that his hunger strike ended in his untimely death, and he was undoubtedly an exquisite pianist.
Yeah, because spies ALWAYS carry ID cards issued by the agency they’re, um,….secretly…working for.
You moron.
Nobody believes this lie about an FBI identity card.
Please don’t insult our intelligence.
Sure Ivan. What ever you say, Ivan.
Just to be clear, my objection is that Lebrecht omitted this detail. Whether you believe it or not is up to you, but journalists have a duty to tell the whole story. Otherwise how can people form their own opinions?
That is not the full story. It is an FSB lie. We have a duty to distinguish between truth and lies.
That’s your opinion, and I respect it, thank you for engaging. I do think the story is more complicated than you are making out. In any case I am sad for the man and his family, nobody deserves such a death, whatever their crimes.
He committed no crimes, arsehole.
Did you also find the Statue of Liberty hidden under his pillow together with the Baywatch Season #3 … ?
Wait until you get arrested and people start publishing lies about you everywhere. I hope you can stick to your belief that “journalists have the duty to tell the whole story”.
For all those who do not understand what is happening in Russia and buy e.g. tickets for Netrebko for $1250,
just the last lines of Mandelstam poem on Stalin:
“He forges decrees in a line like horseshoes,
One for the groin, one the forehead, temple, eye.
He rolls the executions on his tongue like berries.
He wishes he could hug them like big friends from home.”
Needless to say Mandelstam shared the fate of Pavel Kushnir…
Rest in peace, Pavel Kushner. Let us hope you have inspired others to not bend and to live to see a better day for Russia.
The world has not become inured to the unspeakable cruelties and crimes of Putin’s regime.
Even more than other countries, in Russia the exceedingly few “good people” tend to die young.