Фото: Радыё Свабода
The democratic forces aim to secure a genuine investigation into the death of Raman Bandarenka and hold everyone involved accountable. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said this on the sixth anniversary of the death of the Minsk resident, who went out in 2020 to defend the “Square of Change”.
“Six years ago, I found it very difficult to find the words after Raman’s murder. And today, it is just as difficult. Even the very thought that a person can walk out into the courtyard of their own home and be killed there is still incomprehensible.
Over these six years, what should have happened from the very beginning has not taken place: an honest and transparent investigation. The criminal case was suspended back in 2021, and those responsible have still not been held accountable. At the same time, journalistic investigations have long identified the names of people whose involvement in the crime must be examined.
Raman was killed, and then they pretended that nothing had happened. But the feeling of this terrible injustice has not gone away.
We remember Raman. His face and his words: ‘I am going out.’ We remember what was done to him and how difficult things have been for his loved ones. And we remember how many questions are still waiting for answers.
We will seek a genuine investigation and accountability for everyone involved in his death. Because, despite the time that has passed, we still need justice. Six years of silence do not erase either the crime or responsibility for it,” the statement said.
Raman Bandarenka was at the “Square of Change” on November 11, 2020, when a group of unidentified people cut down the ribbons there. He was struck several times by unidentified individuals, forced into a bus and taken to the Central District Police Department, and from there to hospital with a traumatic brain injury. Bandarenka died in hospital on November 12. On February 18, more than three months after his death, the Prosecutor General’s Office announced that it had opened a criminal case under Part 3 of Article 147 of the Criminal Code (“Intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm resulting in a person’s death through negligence”). The investigation into the criminal case concerning Raman Bandarenka’s death was suspended.