The Belarusian association of former security officials BYPOL, which supports the protesters, has published new details of the resonant detention of activist Roman Bondarenko in Minsk, who died from serious injuries. The materials of the investigation of the initiative group are at the disposal of Lenta.ru.
BYPOL obtained the recordings of telephone conversations between the ambulance service and the Tsentralny district police department of Minsk, where Bondarenko was brought after being arrested on November 11, 2020, as well as eyewitness accounts who watched the detention of the activist at the police station.
According to eyewitnesses, when he entered the police department, Bondarenko no longer moved independently and did not speak, he only “twitched”, although during the arrest he was still conscious. He was placed in a cell. An hour before midnight from the police came a call to the ambulance with a request to “examine the man, in strong alcoholic [intoxication]”.
After that, the police officers tried to bring the man to his senses in order to establish his identity, for this they beat him on the cheeks and shook him. According to a BYPOL source, only at that moment did the police find out that the characteristic smell of alcohol was absent, and Bondarenko was unconscious and did not react to anything.
A few minutes after the first call, they called the ambulance twice and reported that the man had lost consciousness and requested emergency medical assistance. The last call from the police department was recorded at 23:08. Bondarenko was taken to the hospital by ambulance services only at midnight and his condition was assessed as extremely serious. According to the conclusion about the death of the activist, he died from a head injury incompatible with life. Many hematomas were also found on his body. No alcohol was found in his blood.
The death of Roman Bondarenko became known on November 12. The man was detained the night before in the courtyard of a residential complex known as the “courtyard of change” due to the active protest activities of residents. The detention was preceded by a fight involving unknown men who tried to destroy an art object in the colors of a protest white-red-white flag. In the fight, Bondarenko was pushed hard and he hit his head, after which, according to the stories of his neighbors, he was “professionally detained”.
Belarusian investigating authorities insisted that the activist was injured in a fight and was drunk.