Zmitser Bandarenka: “OSCE expert” will become common noun in Belarus soon

A conclusion could not be made only on the ground of papers offered by law-enforcing agencies of the totalitarian state.

It has been stated by a coordinator of “European Belarus” civil campaign Zmitser Bandarenka, who comments on the opinion of the OSCE experts on the case of death of Aleh Byabenin, a journalist.

“Relying upon the information I have read in the opinion of the OSCE experts, I can note two things. The experts have confirmed that they had not held their own investigation, and they were not able to carry out such investigation, they simply studied the papers offered by Lukashenka’s prosecutor’s office and police. And the only statement they were able to make, was that Aleh Byabenin’s death had been caused by suffocation. We, Aleh’s friends and colleagues, had been saying from the start that Aleh had not hanged himself, but was hanged, and even before the results of the medicolegal investigation the authorities announced in mass media that Aleh Byabenin had committed suicide. From the start the Belarusian police and prosecutor’s office did not consider or investigate any other versions.

There is an impression that the experts from abroad have become mere toys in the political games of the Belarusian regime and those Western politicians who are trying to rescue the last dictatorship of Europe. Basing upon the facts which had been confirmed by the experts who had arrived for three days, one can hardly speak about suicide confidently. The word-combination “an OSCE expert” is to become a common noun in Belarus soon, as people visiting our country completely ignore the fact that Belarus is a totalitarian state and it is impossible to make a conclusion basing upon the papers provided by the law-enforcing agencies of the regime only.

The previous OSCE expert, who had arrived to Belarus from Germany and who gave an expert opinion on the case of Mikali Autukhovich, a political prisoner, also committed a gaffe, when on the grounds of the documents of investigation he confirmed the version that the businessman is a terrorist. But it is a common knowledge that the case of Autukhovich did not hold water even in Lukashenka’s court. After the change of power in Belarus a real investigation of the death of journalist Aleh Byabenin would be held, like in other notorious cases in Belarus,” Zmitser Bandarenka is convinced.