Call for international probe into Belarus death in custody

STOCKHOLM — Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya called on Tuesday for an international inquiry into the death of an anti-regime protester in police custody last week.

On a visit to Stockholm for talks with Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde, Tikhanovskaya pleaded for “an international investigation”.

“If we have no law in our country, if we have no justice in our country, we are appealing for international help and countries where democracy prevails, where law prevails, to try to help us,” she said in an interview with AFP.

“We will see if it is possible, but I am sure that it has to be done,” she added.

Tikhanovskaya has lived in exile since the contested reelection of strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko in August.

Opponents of 66-year-old Lukashenko, who has been in power for more than two decades, say the election was rigged and Tikhanovskaya was the true winner of the polls.

Roman Bondarenko, 31, died Thursday, a day after police arrested him following a dispute in a city square that has become a regular meeting place for the opposition.

Witnesses said trouble erupted between protesters hanging red-and-white ribbons — the colours of the opposition — and plainclothes police who were removing them.

Bondarenko was pronounced dead the day after suffering brain damage, triggering outrage among the opposition who believe Lukashenko’s security forces are ultimately responsible.

“This recent beating to death of Roman Bondarenko is only the latest consequence of the outrageous and shameful actions by the Belarusian authorities,” the Swedish foreign minister said during the joint interview.

Sweden, which takes over the rotating chairmanship of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe on January 1, “cannot accept impunity and we are in favour of putting more people and entities, businesses, on the EU sanction lists”, she said.

Tikhanovskaya on Monday had met ambassadors from Sweden, Denmark, The Netherlands, Canada and Ireland to press for an international inquiry into Bondarenko’s death.

More than 700 people were jailed following latest anti-government protests in Belarus, the country’s interior ministry said on Monday.