Thirty Questions to Official Version of the Shootout Between the KGB and Zeltser in Minsk

Belarusians demand the truth about the tragedy on Yakubovskogo Street.

The Belarusian authorities are being ambiguous about the incident in which IT specialist Andrei Zeltser and the KGB fighter who was among those who broke into Zeltser's flat were killed. There are no answers to many questions, and some consider the video staged.

Belsat collected those questions voiced by independent experts, websites and telegram channels:

1. What is the chronology of events? What happened and when? The first publication about the incident was made by the blogger Nexta at 19:37. At 20:19, an edited video of the incident was published by Zheltye Slivy Telegram channel associated with the state television and law enforcement agencies. Zeltser was in work chats at 1:30 pm; the report of the wounded KGB officer appeared at 1:40 pm. Zeltser called the police at some point.

2. Why did the pro-government channel publish the video so soon, right on the day of the incident? Why did they publish such a video at all if the footage of the killing of a security officer could incite more violence and demoralize security officers? Why did they put the video of the killing as an advertisement on YouTube?

3. Why did Zeltser take the video from his flat? The propagandists' version is "for the hype". The BYPOL version is to prove his innocence if anything happens. The live streaming could have been "the hype".

4. Why did Zeltser call the police? BYPOL's version is to report that unknown people were breaking down the door and ask for help. The state propaganda version is that first Zeltser, then his wife "called the police for themselves", prepared to shoot the enticed enforcers.

5. So did the law enforcers come at the call of Zeltser himself or, as the General Prosecutor's Office and KGB stated earlier, "were working on the addresses where persons involved in terrorism could be" and therefore had a search warrant? Why did the authorities fail to mention the calls to the police at first, but only reported it after the information about the calls had hit social media?

6. Why did a number of residents of Yakubovskogo house say they didn't hear gunshots, although it was very loud?

7. Who was the first to shoot? The published video shows that Seltzer shot as "fire!" was heard from the corridor. The enforcer in the grey jacket shot three times in a moment after Zeltzer (shots from the corridor). However, the footage does not show what moments have been cut out as there are few images of the room. The footage does not even clarify that two camera angles are from the same flat.

8. Why can not anyone see the employee in the black jacket in the room, but only in the hall? In the hall, he is standing in the hallway, but a second before he was not visible in the hallway and the mirror in the room. The blind spot in the hallway is tiny. Why does the video from the hallway not show Zeltser? The second before the corner of the room appears in this video, Zelzer was firing from that corner.

9. One can see a woman (presumably Zeltser's wife) is also taking the video. Why wasn't her video published?

10. Why is the video edited in such a way that the first one sees Zeltser's face, then another angle comes, and then only the hands of a shooter? With such editing, there is no certainty that it is the same person.

11. Why was the flat of the allegedly "dangerous special criminal" attacked only through the doors and not through the windows? Why were the law enforcers not wearing a special uniform - bulletproof vests, helmets, kneepads, shields? Why did they not use a stun grenade?

12. Why did the enforcer shout "police" before the storming, when there was at least one KGB officer there? Or did they show the documents and give the reason for the visit before the break-in, or just shouted "police" and started to break down the door?

13. Why did the law enforcers enter the flat in such a clumsy and unprofessional manner, as if they had not studied its layout?

14. Why were the law enforcers unprepared for the fact that Zeltser had a weapon, even though it was officially registered and even though he had not hidden it on social networks? Why did the law enforcer in the grey jacket raise a gun when he entered the flat of the alleged "dangerous special criminal"?

15. If it was not a "dangerous special criminal" but a routine political search, what was the KGB officer, identified by BYPOL as a member of the elite "A" group, doing there? Two other security officers have "exotic" models of guns the regular police officers do not use.

16. Why does a law enforcer with a camera get in the fire line right in the middle of a shootout?

17. Why does an officer in a grey jacket shoot in a narrow corridor, when the officer in black (who was later wounded) is right in front of him as if he was not afraid to shoot his colleague? Could he be the one to injure the black-jacketed officer?

18. Why do the blood marks on the floor under the enforcer not look like they would have been caused by a shotgun at point-blank range, but wounds from a pistol? There would have been much more blood from a shotgun.

19. How could the enforcer in black move so briskly after being hit almost at point-blank range by a shotgun? Someone in the hall was screaming.

20. Why is there no trace of Zeltser's blood? The man in the grey jacket shot three times and missed, but only the officer who shot afterwards and who was shot reached the goal?

21. There is little smoke emitted from the Zeltser shotgun. Videos of the shots from this model of shotgun show more smoke. Why is there little smoke? Were there blanks or rubber bullets shot by Zeltser? That might explain the little smoke and not the strongest recoil of the shotgun.

22. Why does the woman on the video not scream when they shoot at her husband and then at her? Why does the woman step into the fire line almost immediately after the shots? Why does she not look scared?

23. Two video fragments from the room show the window first with curtains, then without them. Why were the curtains pulled back when the flaw enforcers broke into the flat?

24. Why did a married and cash-toting IT guy, who is raising a child and playing sports, take up arms in the first place? No one could say Zeltser was aggressive and ready to commit suicide. It is no secret that law enforcers in Belarus frequently break into flats for searches, and no one has heard of scandalous break-ins for a long time.

25. Why did Zeltser take a disadvantageous shooting position instead of hiding from potential backfire? Was Zeltser not afraid for his wife? Wasn't she afraid of being in the same room? Why did the woman not hide in another room?

26. Why does Zeltser have two Instagram accounts, with one (created in 2012) having nothing about the gun and the other (active since March 9, 2021) having two photos of the gun published on August 13 and 14?

27. Is Zeltser dead? Information about Zeltser's death comes only from the state media, and BYPOL and the independent media have no confirmation of his death. Maybe he is alive and just ran away?

28. Why is the wife suspected of "complicity" if she only took the video?

29. How did the Prosecutor General's Office "conduct a check" so quickly? The Prosecutor General said it at noon on 29 September, the day after the incident. Why her and not the Investigative Committee?

30. Why don't the authorities, the pro-government media and bloggers try to provide answers to numerous questions, but only threaten and incite enmity, block Komsomolskaya Pravda and intimidate EPAM?