The body of Aleh Byabenin was found today at 5.30 p.m. in his summer cottage not far from Minsk.

Aleh Byabenin was one of the founders and leaders of charter97.org website.

The prosecutor’s office of Dzyarzhynsk district is carrying out investigation of the death of the founder and chief of charter97.org website Aleh Byabenin.

It has turned out that during the initial inspection of the body a constriction mark was found on the neck of Byabenin, which can be a sign of both a suicide and of a violent death by suffocation or strangulation with a noose.

The leader of “European Belarus” Andrei Sannikov states that the death of the founder and leader of charter97.org website raises many doubts.

“On request of the family we have withheld information before the results of medicolegal investigation. I visited the site of the tragedy and I must say that I do not believe in suicide of Aleh Byabenin. Many things rise serious doubts. A note has not been found, the latest sms received by his friends show he planned to go to the cinema on Thursday evening. A week ago Aleh and his family returned from a holiday in Greece. It is strange that the Interior Affairs Ministry is already disseminating its story, without waiting for the results of the medicolegal investigation.

We had extensive plans, we met every day. Aleh is my friend; he is the main member of my team, a brilliant journalist and a very reliable person. I offer my sincere condolences to his wife, parents and all relatives of Aleh,” Andrei Sannikov said.

Zmitser Bandarenka, Charter’97 coordinator, has commented on the official results of examination of the circumstances surrounding the death of Aleh Byabenin.

“I would like to say that Aleh Byabenin was not simply a journalist. In a possible Belarusian presidential campaign he was to become one of the leaders of the headquarters of the oppositional candidate for presidency Andrei Sannikov. And all of a sudden the person commits suicide. There is no motive for such behaviour. There is no suicide note, there are no problems at work, he has a dearly loved wife, sons, parents, a brother. The man collects his friends for a premiere screening of a film. The SMS which is known to be the last sent by him was about his coming to “October” cinema at 8 p.m. And then again, all of a sudden the person disappears for about 24 hours, not answering phone calls.

There is a wide gap between the time of death indicated by experts, and it is recorded in the documents. Policemen and workers of prosecutor’s office, including a forensic expert, who arrived to the summer house yesterday, documented that the death occurred around 2 p.m. on September 3. In the certificate of death issued to the family today, the date of death is September 2. That means, the gap in more than 15 hours.

Aleh cherished his little son. He was found in a noose made of a rope from a child’s hammock. Such thing is simply impossible. People, who saw Aleh on the day before, said that he was cheerful and energetic, and planned to go to the cinema. He said to his family that he planned some meeting during afternoon on September 2. We are trying to find out whom he was to meet and whether they met.

As for the results of the expert examination: in fact, the results of the biochemical analysis of tissues, body organs and humors are to become known only by Wednesday. There are lots of other circumstances which make us doubt that Aleh departed out of this world of his own free will,” Zmitser Bandarenka said.

We remind that the prosecutor of Dzyarzhynski district of Minsk region Syarhei Kauryha has told mass media today that forensic medical examination has not found traces of violent death of the founder and chief of one of the leading Belarusian oppositional online editions charter97.org Aleh Byabenin, and the reason of his death had been suicide allegedly.

The funeral of Aleh Byabenin is to take place on Monday. The place and time of the civil funeral ceremony is to be announced later.

Aleh Byabenin was born in 1974. He graduated from the Belarusian State University, department of journalism. In 1990ies he occupied the position of the deputy chief editor of “Imya”, an independent Belarusian newspaper. Since 1998 he was the founder and head of charter97.org website. Aleh Byabenin had a wife and two sons.

Charter`97