The death of a Belarusian journalist Aleh Byabenin remains in the focus of attention of Russian media.
"His death shocked Belarus" – was the title of the episode, which appeared on October, 30 on air of NTV in the program "Today".
Belarus addressed OSCE. Official Minsk invited expert criminalists from Europe. Their task was - to evaluate the run of the investigation into the case of the death of the journalist Aleh Byabenin. The head of a well-known opposition site died two months ago under mysterious circumstances. The official version is - suicide. However, relatives and friends of Byabenin do not agree with the conclusions of the investigators.
A reporter of NTV George Grivenny narrates.
The current visit of two experts from OSCE, who were invited by the Belarusian authorities to participate in the investigation of this case, is covered by thick veil of secrecy. Their names are not disclosed, their faces are hidden from the press. But it is quite possible to re-establish the picture of the secret work of the European investigators.
Zmitser Bandarenka, a colleague of Aleh Byabenin: "They listened attentively and asked detailed questions. They were interested, why we do not agree with the official version "suicide".
Zmitser Bandarenka spent several hours with the investigators from Sweden and Norway, telling what he had seen here, in Perkurava village, on the day when Aleh Byabenin was found with a rope round his neck.
Zmitser Bandarenka: "The rope was taken from a child's hammock, what was in principal impossible, because Aleh loved his child so much that it would have stopped hip. I am, perhaps, the only person, who saw the dead Aleh here, in the summer cottage. He had a red spot on his skin in the area of his left kidney, which looked like a bruise, and at the left side of his chest – something like scratches".
The Belarusian authorities themselves decided to add a European accent to the investigation. A tragic death of the head of the main opposition resource in Belarus drew a very wide response in the society and media. Aleh Byabenin and his site "Charter'97" were not afraid to criticize severely the present authority and personally Alyaksandr Lukashenka and the tragedy took place at the very start of the presidential pre-election race. Byabenin was to become the key figure at the headquarters of an opposition contender Andrei Sannikov.
Zmitser Bandarenka: "Either relatives, or colleagues, or friends of Aleh do not believe in the version of the suicide, just because there are too many conflicting data".
Fiodar Paulyuchenka, a close friend of Aleh Byabenin told about these conflicting data to the European experts, on September, 2 he talked with him in Skype, agreed about the meeting in the cinema, but met him as a witness during the examination of his corpse.
Fiodar Paulyuchenka, a friend of Aleh Byabenin: "Such delicate moment. He promised to lend me some money. It was in September, I asked him in the afternoon to bring me the money to the meeting. And when we were here, in the house, I was there as a witness, 400 Dollars were lying there neatly, prepared for me. It is the evidence of that the man had other plans".
Fiodar specifies, this communication with the newly arrived investigators was more informative, than the calls to the local Prosecutor's Office.
Fiodar Paulyuchenka: "They asked the same, and as it seems to me, a version about the murder is not examined in principle. In other words, they are not interested in the facts, which may be the evidence of the fact that it is not a suicide".
But foreign specialists did not conduct any their separate investigation. There was just observation and evaluation. Several talks, not even interrogations, visit of the place of the accident, examination of papers.
Zmitser Bandarenka, a colleague of Aleh Byabenin: "They can help by saying that it is necessary to work on all versions".
But what exactly and when the OSCE experts will say in their report is not known even in the Minsk office of this organization. Meanwhile, a criminal case on the fact of the death of Aleh Byabenin was not launched. As it is said in the Prosecutor's office, the check is continuing.
Source: Charter'97 :: News from Belarus
0 comments:
Post a Comment