‘This Is Not Country For Living, But Concentration Camp’

A Homel resident died because of the authorities’ showing off in front of Lukashenka, and his life was valued at $ 5000.

Kiryl Ramanau, a 33-year-old resident of Homel, died during the emergency works before Lukashenka’s visit. He worked as a rescue squad driver for the Homel Chemical Plant. On the day of Kiryl’s death, he and his colleagues were sent to wash cowsheds, as Aliaksandr Lukashenka was supposed to arrive with a visit, reports Radio Svaboda.

The young man fell from the roof and died. The chemical plant does not consider itself guilty, refuses to pay the man’s parents full compensation of moral damage. In November 2017, the Buda-Kashaliova district was preparing for the arrival of Lukashenka. There were some emergency works going on at the farms. “Bringing things in order on the ground. This became the main leitmotif in the view of Lukashenka’s working visit to the Homel region,” wrote the newspaper SB-Belarus Today following the trip of the head of state to the Buda-Kashaliova district. Rescue driver Kiryl Ramanau paid for this “order” with his life.

The Marozovichy-Agro farm is a structural unit of the Homel chemical plant. Washing the roof of the cowshed was not included in the duties of Kiryl Ramanau, the driver of the rescue squad. However, the bosses sent him to cover the emergency situation - to wash and paint the roof of the cowshed in late November. The rescuers of the chemical plant were cleaning the roof lights - openings filled with polycarbonate. Kiryl stepped on polycarbonate and fell from a height of 6.6 meters on a concrete floor. He died on the spot. He was outlived by a young widow with two small children - three and six years old at that time.

Criminal cases are started for cows covered with shit, disciplinary sanctions are imposed for death

“My son said that he could not refuse to work, although it was not part of his duties. After all, like other workers, he was bound by a contract, loans. The management said: those who doesn’t like something is free to go,” says Hanna, Kiryl’s mother. She retells the words of her son that “I have never seen such an insanity: people are painting the roof - and this is in November, in the fog and frost, others wash the roof towards them”.

The young man worked without insurance. Later, the labor inspectorate would argue that with a slight slope of the roof, the insurance is “not applicable.” The commander of the paramilitary rescue squad supervised the work on the phone - he was not on the spot himself. “There was no control, no one thought about security. Those who died were to blame for the violation of safety rules. All the documents were cleaned up, all the bosses got away with this. All they received for the death of my son was disciplinary action. The authorities needed to curry favor, ” said the mother of the deceased. She adds that the plant’s management has a “non-human attitude towards people.”

“If Lukashenka saw “shitty” cows in the Mahiliou region, then criminal cases were immediately instituted, people should be put in jail. And when people are dying, nobody cares. They should have given medals to the bosses then,” Hanna resents.

“Children grow up without dad. I won't have another son.”

The criminal case after the death of Kiryl Ramanau was initially started, but then stopped.

“The officials were found not guilty - they say, there is no direct causal connection between their violations in labor protection and the death of Kiryl. During the preliminary investigation, the plant management changed its readings three times. In the end, they found a hole in the legislation - that the insurance is “not applicable”, that the roof slope is slight. But the roof was wet, and under such conditions security measures must be taken! In the end, what was not done over the years - they didn’t clean the cowshed, never washed it - it’s impossible to do what the authorities wanted in one day, ”says Ivan Ramanau, the father of Kiryl.

The man after the death of his son lost his health - he became a person with the 3rd degree disability. The mother has poor health as well. Kiryl was their hope of old age. Now parents are left without a son, children - without a father. “I take my granddaughter to a music school. Other children are sometimes taken there by young dads. My heart bleeds - my grandchildren grow up without a dad, we lost our son. We will not have another one, ” says Hanna.

Parents filed a lawsuit against the Homel chemical plant for the recovery of non-pecuniary damage. On May 29, the court of the Savetski district upheld their claim and decided to collect 50 thousand rubles from the company in favor of Kiryl Ramanau’s parents. The chemical plant filed an appeal because it disagrees neither with its guilt, nor with the amount of moral harm. The officials considered the amount of non-pecuniary damage “unfair” and “significantly overpriced”. In the appeal they called the “fair” amount - 10 thousand rubles - and asked the court to change the decision.

“Did my son die so that there was light for the cows?”

“They show on TV that Belarus is a country for life. For what kind of life and for whom? The big bosses? This is not a country to live in, but a concentration camp. Only not for cows, but for people,” added Ivan. He tells how, at the court hearing, the chemical plant management “fought back” from the claim for the moral harm compensation. They listed how they helped with the funeral, with the monument. But this assistance is provided for in the collective agreement of the enterprise. The plant workers helped, from whose salary they deducted money, ” Ivan points out.

Hanna says: “Why did my son die? So that there was light for the cows, and the officials got another star and stayed in their warm places? So they showed off before Lukashenka - see how good we are? I would understand if he saved people, because he worked in a rescue squad. ”

BYN 10 thousand for human life - is is reasonable and fair?

The interests of Ivan Ramanau were represented in court by legal inspector of the independent trade union REP Leanid Sudalenka.

“In principle, the court of first instance, charging 50,000 from the chemical plant, proceeded from judicial practice in such cases. Demanding in the appeal to reduce the size of moral harm fivefold, the chemical plant first of all shows its heartlessness. The damage is collected from a legal entity, and not from the management’s personal pockets. Does 10,000 correspond to the principles of rationality and justice?” the human rights activist said. He and the Ramanau family will ask the regional court board to keep the decision of the first instance in force.