Lukashenko Says Authorities Did Not Want Opposition Figure Bondarenko to Die

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th November, 2020) Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Friday that the authorities had nothing to gain from the death of opposition figure Roman Bondarenko, who died in a hospital after a fight.

"I was briefed yesterday, and, at the time, he was alive. And then they began twisting it, as if he was beaten up, I will not say the Names, but the people who are close to the president. They have already found the guilty. Nobody needs this unrest. And nobody needs the sacrifice of people's lives. I don't and they don't," Lukashenko said as quoted by Belta news agency.

The president said that "you can't play politics on people's deaths." Lukashenko said he had asked to investigate the death of Bondarenko.

According to tut.by outlet, people wearing civilians clothes and masks came to the so-called Square of Change in a Minsk courtyard on Wednesday and began taking off the opposition banners. A fight broke out, and one person who "came out to see what was going on" got a head injury. According to the outlet, Bondarenko was taken to a hospital from a police station with "injuries from a fight." On Thursday, Health Ministry said he had died. The investigators said Bondarenko was under influence at the time of hospitalization. A number of outlets, including tut.by, published photos of medical logs disproving that he was drunk.