“People in My Entourage Beat Bandarenka”: Lukashenka Delivered Murderers Trying to Provide Alibi for Them
- 17.11.2020, 10:40
Interesting coincidence.
In the evening of Wednesday, November 11, a company, which the authorities call "concerned citizens", aimed to destroy the mural and white-red-white ribbons. Seeing the message about uninvited guests in the courtyard chat room, 31-year-old resident Raman Bandarenka wrote "I go", and he was there a few minutes later. At one moment, the "guests" attacked Raman and another brave local - the latter could hardly run away, while a man in a grey sweater stroke Bandarenka to the ground. Strangers at the scene - most likely the law enforcers in civilian clothes - took Bandarenka to the van. It happened at 22:15. At 0:05 Raman was taken to the hospital (the documents indicate he was taken from the Tsentralny Police Department) in a coma. He had surgery. However, Bandarenka died without regaining consciousness at 8 pm, November 12, writes tribuna.com.
Soon law enforcers said that the victim was allegedly drunk. The indignant doctors sent the documents to the media with a refutation three minutes later, but this did not prevent Aliaksandr Lukashenka from fully believing in "bodies". In reality (all checked by several CCTV cameras, which recorded the time) at 22:15 Bandarenka was taken to the van from the square. It drove away soon. The police arrived at 22:33 and left without detecting a fight. Here comes the version (allegedly from an alternative reality) of Lukashenka. He described it in an interview with several selected media on Friday, 13 November: "As I know, there was a fight, moreover, a serious one. One of the protesters called the chasteners - the police. Police arrived. Only when they arrived, as usual, everyone ran away. And this one (Raman Bandarenka - tribuna.com) was either injured or drunk; the Investigative Committee presented the report. He was drunk and taken to the department. He felt sick on the way, as I was informed. They called an ambulance and took him to the hospital. It is how it happened".
Lukashenka's speech about the police indicates that he did not see the camera footage and does not know the truth about the time of its arrival. It is no surprise that he does not know that Bandarenka was sober. The future has shown that it was not the end of inconsistencies in words and reality. In an interview, Lukashenka brought "sincere condolences to the family and friends" of Raman. On 15 November, a huge Bandarenka Memorial in the square of Changes was destroyed, and people were brutally dispersed and detained during the event and the night raid of those who eventually obey Lukashenka's orders. However, there is no surprise.
However, on November 13, Lukashenka spoke about those who might have been involved in the beating of Bandarenka (it was published later). It will be recalled that in the evening of November 11 there were two unknown people among who increasingly looked like representatives of Belarusian sport: one of them was Dmitry Baskov, the head of ИРА (Belarusian Hockey Federation). This man stood idle during the fight. Another person looks like Dmitry Shakuta, the Honoured Master of Sport in kickboxing. This participant of the conflict just stroke Bandarenka to the ground. Witnesses and knowledgeable people felt reminded of Baskov and Shakuta by the people involved in the conflict. Besides, the unknown wore the same clothes as the "guests" of the Megapolis residential area. They came there in October to cut off the ribbons. Then Baskov was identified.
Lukashenka's words of November 13 reached us with a delay. The full record of the interview was not published at once. However, here's what Lukashenka said on Friday: "We see how they take a slow start. They chose one person and got it started. Yesterday (November 12 - note), I received information that one said Raman had been beaten, I don't give names, by people from my close entourage. Look, these people were not in Minsk at all! One wanted to say that I gave an order".
It looks like an alibi for several people. However, there is a problem. As of November 13, only one person from "Lukashenka's close entourage", Dmitry Baskov, was suspected of involvement in the tragedy. One person, not several. As early as on November 12, a local interviewed by Radio Svaboda stated that he had seen a "sportsman close to Lukashenka" in his yard (this unnamed wording of the publication resembles the one used by Lukashenka). Suspicion fell on Baskov because of the background in the Megapolis. On November 13, the investigation of tut.by strengthened suspicion with a pile of matching details. In the morning of November 11, Baskov was surely in Minsk. He took part in the meeting of the Organizing Committee for the preparation of the World Cup-2021. Some witnesses claimed that Baskov's car was leaving the garage at 21.15 on the very evening of the tragedy.
However, Shakuta's possible involvement was discussed only on Saturday, November 14, when Tribuna released its investigation. In the Megapolis story, we missed a man in a grey sweater. However, we weighed less noticeable facts by late Friday and then interviewed informed sources. After that, we could publish our analysis of the situation on Saturday afternoon. By the way, on the evening of August 16, a man wearing a black vest and a grey sweater was involved in a conflict with an attempt to destroy symbols. It happened on Romenskaya Street (several blocks from the stadium FC Minsk). A local was able to save the national coat of arms at the cost of beatings.
What "people" did Lukashenka talk about on November 13? Or was it an unintentional reservation, hinting that he already knew more than we did?