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Cichanoŭskaja vows to seek justice for activist on sixth death anniversary
A stand in Bandarenka's memory in Vilnius, November 10, 2024
November 12, Pozirk. Belarusian opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja has vowed to press for a genuine investigation into the death of Raman Bandarenka, who died on November 12, 2020, after being brutally beaten in Minsk, and to hold all those responsible accountable.
“We remember Raman,” she said. “We remember what was done to him and how hard it has been for his family. . . Six years of silence do not erase either the crime or the responsibility for it.”
Late on November 11, 2020, Bandarenka, 31, went out of his home in Minsk to find out why unknown masked men were taking down white and red ribbons from a courtyard fence. He was then brutally beaten, taken to a police station and rushed to hospital in a coma a few hours later. He died from a head injury without regaining consciousness the following day.
The activist’s death sparked a massive public outcry, with protests staged across the country.
Tut.by journalist Kaciaryna Barysievič, who investigated the accident, was sentenced to six months in prison for disclosing doctors’ conclusions on Bandarenka’s examination. Kaciaryna Andrejeva and Darja Čulcova, of Belsat TV, were sentenced to prison for covering protests triggered by the activist’s death.
Video footage and the recordings of phone conversations, published by the Cyberpartisans hacktivist group in August 2022, implicated Natalla Ejsmant, Alaksandar Łukašenka’s press secretary; Dźmitryj Baskaŭ, a member of the Council of the Republic; and Dźmitryj Šakuta, a professional kickboxer, in the assault.
Alaksiej Chrałovič, the Committee for State Security (KGB) officer who had sent the footage and recordings to the Nexta media outlet, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for alleged high treason. He had recently one year added to his sentence for allegedly disobeying prison authorities, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported.
In September 2021, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Belarus suspended an investigation into Bandarenka’s violent death, citing failure to identify the perpetrators.
Meanwhile, an independent investigation found that officials were “undoubtedly” involved in the murder of Bandarenka, former investigator Uładzimir Žyhar told Pozirk last year.
Drawing on information obtained by the Cyberpartizans hacktivist group, Žyhar was among former security officers who published an investigation in September 2021 identifying those allegedly involved in the assault that led to Bandarenka’s death. Among them, he named Ejsmant, Baskaŭ and Šakuta. Žyhar added that SOBR police officers and other unidentified individuals also took part in the attack.
Although officials denied the allegations, Žyhar said independent investigators had gathered solid evidence to substantiate their claims.
Beyond any doubt officials were involved in Bandarenka’s murder, investigator says
November 12, Pozirk. Officials were undoubtedly involved in the murder of opposition activist Raman Bandarenka five years ago, former investigator Uładzimir Žyhar told Pozirk. Drawing on information obtained by the Cyberpartizans hacktivist group, Žyhar was among former security officers who …
