Warrant Officer Nicknamed ‘Heavyweight’: Another SOBR Fighter Involved In Attack Against Raman Bandarenka Identified

Who do they refer to in the new investigation?

The BYPOL initiative has published the investigation into the details of death of Raman Bandarenka. Among the persons involved, SOBR warrant officer, acting MMA fighter Yauhen Tsimanouski is mentioned.

Let us note, back on November 18 an audio record was released on the internet, in which two supposed participants of the events of November 11 with voices reminding those of Dzmitry Baskau and Dzmitry Shakuta are discussing the beating of Raman Bandarenka in the “yard of changes”. One of them mentioned some “Heavyweight”. Then, journalists tried to find out who it might be, tut.by writes.

What is this about?

In the conversation, the voice reminding the one of Dzmitry Shakuta said the following:

— When they were giving back the phone, Heavyweight said, I saw them lighting a flashlight, trying to rejuvenate. How the f**k could they pass him to the f**king police department f**king unconscious?

The next day, a reader wrote to tut.by, claiming he could possibly know who might hide under this nickname:

— I cannot state this for sure, but Yauhen Tsimanouski, who is a rather famous boxer, has a nickname “Heavyweight”. He worked in the unit 3214, and maybe still works.

We contacted several people undergoing a conscript military service in the mentioned unit, and established several facts about Yauhen Tsimanouski.

Heavyweight and his connection with Dzmitry Shakuta

Journalists asked all the interlocutors who served with Tsimanouski about his nickname. Virtually everyone said it was Heavyweight. However, as one of the interlocutors noted, such a nickname seems rather popular among heavyweight boxers.

Still, we managed to find out that Heavyweight is not just a nickname under which Yauhen Tsimanouski is known among athletes. He served in the SOBR under the same codename.

Here are the pictures that we managed to find in the material about the SOBR dated 2014, dedicated to the 15th jubilee of the structure. The material is published on the website “SB.Belarus Today”. However, it was probably printed in the “Specnaz” magazine (it was a joint project with SB).

The overall fighter in the pictures from training sessions is Yauhen Tsimanouski. In one of the photos sidewise, it is seen that the inscription of the fighter’s helmet ends with “Ж” (ТЯЖ is translated as “heavyweight”). In the third photo, the whole inscription is fully legible - “ТЯЖ”, in yellow letters.

The fact that it is not just a nickname but an actual codename is confirmed by the “Specnaz” authors in their other material, dated 2017 - “What do the inscriptions on the helmets of special unit fighters mean?”.

“Maybe, it is some kind of a bravado, fun, taking after American rangers?” - the author anticipates the readers’ versions. And he answers - those inscriptions on helmets are codenames of the fighters, by which they distinguish themselves at trainings and drills.

Dancer, Mosquito, Puma, Force, Raven, Sanitar, Candle, Hare — this is just a small part of the diversity of codenames that the SOBR fighters chose. However, there are also codenames consisting of number codes. All of them can be easily found in the footages of the same “Specnaz”.

“Sometimes fighters call each other by codenames even in everyday life, depending on their relationship,” an officer of the special unit clarified for “Specnaz” back in 2017.

One of the persons who served in this unit later stated that after Tsimanouski had got to the SOBR, it was Dzmitry Shakuta who trained him (and all fighters of this detachment).

Another interlocutor added that Heavyweight trained in Shakuta’s club Shock later - there he practiced kickboxing and Thai boxing.

Where he served and worked

Yauhen Tsimanouski indeed did conscript service in the unit 3214 in 2010-2012, practiced boxing and other martial arts, and participated in tournaments.

In particular, from the open sources it became known that in 2011 the internal troops team participated in the MIA championship in hand-to-hand fighting. The team consisted of 7 servicemen of the military unit 3214, including private Yauhen Tsimanouski, who then got the bronze in the over 90 kg weight category.

— A boxer, with 204 cm height, he did no service, took no duties. He was a master of sports in boxing, went to some tournaments or training camps all the time, — this is how a fellow conscript characterized him, adding: — He’s got a very heavy blow. He knocked out or knocked down almost all of his rivals. They were destined to a concussion. Once I was his sparring partner, and got such a blow I was unconscious for some half an hour.

One of the interlocutors told about Yauhen’s fate after service.

— He worked in the mall “Underground City” as a guard, then he went to the unit 3214 as a contract officer. As far as I know, he needed this to go to the SOBR later. They have a condition - one must serve as a contract officer. In the end, by 2015 he got to the SOBR — and this is confirmed by the open sources:

The martial arts portal octagon.by informed that on November 15-16, 2018, in the sports complex of the military unit 3214 of the MIA internal troops, the Belarusian Physical Culture and Sports Association“Dynama” hand-to-hand combat championship took place among the branches of the special purpose, and SOBR fighter Yauhen Tsimanouski won the first place in the over 90 kg weight category.

Several more interlocutors told us that Yauhen Tsimanouski now works as a coach in his “native” unit 3214, and one person claimed that he also trains “Almaz” fighters.

It is also known from the open sources that at the beginning of the year 2020 “ACADEMY MMA fighter Yauhen Tsimanouski signed a contract with FIGHT NIGHTS GLOBAL and will take part in the Grand-prix in the heavyweight category “Bigger, cooler” already this year. Yauhen’s statistics is six victories against four defeats.”

Could Tsimanouski be in the “yard of changes” on November 11?

This is not known for sure. Yauhen has not confirmed anything — he doesn’t pick up the phone, and doesn’t reply in any messengers either.

Herein, BYPOL has published the billing of Tsimanouski’s phone, according to which he was in the area of the “yard of changes” at the time.

An overall man wearing a bobble hat was spotted among the “caring people” in the evening of November 11 in Charviakova Street.

Our interlocutors said that this man indeed reminds Yauhen by figure and size, but it is impossible to claim it for sure by these shots.