'Cyberguerrillas': After 2020, Wave Of Deaths Of Lukashists In Epaulettes Begins

The curse of Belarusian law enforcement.

After the year 2020, a wave of deaths of Lukashists in shoulder belts began. Their lives often come to a strange end, and it's not the revenge of the Belarusians, writes Belsat.

In Orsha, Siarhei Barviankau, head of the district internal affairs department, died suddenly at work on 4 February. According to unofficial reports, the cause of death was heart problems.

In November last year, Siarhei Asovik, deputy head of the Shchuchyn District Internal Affairs Directorate, died unexpectedly at work.

In June 2022, the head of the Baranavichy Police Department of Law Enforcement and Prevention Aliaksei Hetman died - the day before he jumped into the water while bathing and broke his neck.

The deceased police officers were involved in the repressions of 2020: political repressions took place under the leadership of S. Barviankou. Barviankou was involved in political repression; S. Asovik filmed opposition rallies and called in riot police against demonstrators; A. Hetman committed perjury in court, fabricated administrative and criminal cases against citizens.

The Alliance of Investigators of Belarus has studied the internal documents of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and found that at least several dozen law enforcement officers of various ranks have died for various reasons since 2020.

Employees of the Security Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs dominate among the dead. They died at home, at work and in medical centres.

The official reports of 2020-2021 often describe pre-mortem symptoms - high body temperature and suspected pneumonia - signs of COVID-19, which was prevalent in those years, while this disease is almost never mentioned in the death certificates of workers.

In this way, the Ministry of Health officials' fight for better statistics had an impact on the police. As the saying goes, "the dead don't suffer" and "paper doesn't blush".

An employee of the Kastrychnitski (Hrodna) Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of pneumonia. A few days later he died, the death certificate stating "ischaemic heart disease".

An employee of the Zheleznodorozhny (Vitsebsk) department of the MIA was hospitalised in Vitsebsk with a diagnosis of "bilateral pneumonia".

He was diagnosed with COVID-19 and put on a lung ventilator, but they could not save him, the patient died. The MIA report states that "the cause of death is under investigation".

The policemen died not only from COVID-19, but also from other illnesses.

On 24 May 2020, a policeman of the detention group of the police unit of the department for the protection of establishments in the towns of Elsk and Narovla of the Mozyr district of the Ministry of Internal Affairs died of a heart attack in the intensive care unit of the Yelsk district hospital.

Four days later, a policeman from the Navapolatsk department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs died in the cardiology department of the Navapolatsk city hospital. The cause of death was an aortic aneurysm, despite the fact that he had passed the MREC three months earlier and had been found fit for duty.

In June 2020, a 38-year-old traffic police inspector of the internal affairs department of the Staubtsy district died of cancer.

The available documents contain information about law enforcement officers who died by suicide or as a result of accidents, and deaths under unclear circumstances were also recorded.

In August 2020, a policeman from the detention group of the Uzda Department of the MIA hanged himself in the basement of a residential building.

On 6 January 2021, the body of the deputy head of the Interdistrict Department of the Committee of State Control of Belarus was found in Lida at 21 Respublikanskaya Street. It was assumed that he had thrown himself from the 10th floor.

Two days later, a policeman from the detention group of the police battalion of the Kastrychnitsky (Minsk) Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was found hanging in a noose in the village of Stukatichy, Minsk district.

On 22 February, a senior officer of the Vitsebsk OMON attempted suicide by cutting the veins in his arms and neck.

Five days later, a pensioner from the Ministry of Internal Affairs was found dead in his dacha in the Pinsk district; four months later, a retired executioner was found in a forest belt by the road in the Brest district.

On 21 April 2021 at noon in the office of the Orsha police department (commanded by the deceased S. Barviankou), the then newly appointed head of drug control with the rank of lieutenant-colonel of the police shot himself with a service pistol.

A police officer died in Maladzechna hospital. According to the official version, his death was the result of an accident: he fell from scaffolding.

One case of a group death of several high-ranking officers under unclear circumstances was registered.

In the summer, a Nissan X-Trail car was found at the bottom of a lake near the village of Spornoye in the Babruisk district. When the car was taken out of the water, four bodies were found in the cabin. A local businessman, a security guard and two police lieutenant colonels were identified among the dead.

Whether deliberately or not, the Ministry of the Interior's documents do not specify the cause of the tragedy.

There are other no less strange cases.

In the Pukhavichy district, a major of the Minsk regional traffic police died suddenly in the house of his wife's parents under unclear circumstances.

In Dyatlava, an employee of the local security service was found dead in his apartment.