Thousands Of People Line Up In Huge Queue To Bid Farewell To Stanislau Shushkevich In Minsk City Center

A video fact.

On the afternoon of May 7, in the Minsk Archcathedral of the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the farewell ceremony for the first leader of independent Belarus, Stanislau Shushkevich, ended.

The ceremony began in the church on Freedom Square the night before and continued all night. A funeral mass was held on Saturday afternoon. The church was full of people, and during the removal of the coffin, the audience applauded continuously for several minutes.

A huge line of people formed along the Freedom Square in Minsk, bidding farewell to Stanislau Shushkevich.

The first leader of independent Belarus will be buried at the Northern Cemetery — this was his will, reports zerkalo.io.

Stanislau Shushkevich died on the night of May 4. He was 87 years old. At the end of April, he was taken to intensive care after suffering from COVID-19. Two days later he was discharged from the hospital, but the health of the politician was undermined by the illness.

In 1991-1994, Stanislau Shushkevich headed the Supreme Council of Belarus of the 12th convocation. As the head of Belarus, he signed the Belavezha Accords, which put an end to the existence of the USSR.