Veranika Charkasava’s murder remains unrevealed in Belarus

On October 20 2004 a journalist Veranika Charkasava was brutally murdered in her flat.

The murderer stabbed her more than 40 times. Charkasava covered different topics, including criminal incidents, however from the start investigators regarded the domestic murder as the key story.

Charkasava’s colleagues believe that he murder could highly possible be related to her professional activities. In particular, representatives of the creative workshop “Agency of journalistic investigation” of the Belarusian Association of Journalists expressed the version that Charkasava could have been drawn into the war of two criminal groupings that wanted to gain control over Homel plant of wines. According to them, the murdered journalist could have information which could pose a threat to one of the groupings of a great sum of money loss if the information published.

Charkasava’s colleagues set out another lead with participation of “Infobank” (“Trustbank” currently) and the topic of arms sale by Belarus to Iraq under Saddam Hussein.

After 6 years the law-enforcing agencies have not only solved this crime, but lost any interest to it, “Salidarnasts” newspaper writes. Veranika Charkasava contributed to this newspaper in recent years.

“Strictly speaking, prosecutor’s office workers and police showed interest only on the first stage, when the cruel murder was much talked of. But our society is made like that: victims are quickly forgotten. Executioners are more honoured for some reason, for instance Stalin, while under his command hundreds thousands of Belarusians were repressed.

So only family and friends now remember Veranika Charkasava, a wonderful journalist who sacrificed her life for the freedom of speech. And authorities use that. They have stopped even imitating investigation of the murder. Regrettably, the prediction made in October 2004 is coming true: this crime won’t be solved under the present regime.

But this crime won’t be forgotten either. Maybe we are not many, those who will come to the cemetery in Kalodzishchy to come to Veranika’s tomb. But we won’t give up in a year or in five years. We will go on speaking about this murder until justice finally be served,” the statement of the editorial office of the newspaper reads.