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The Witness of Aliaksandr Tarajkouski's Death Told in Detail How the Hero Was Killed

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The Witness of Aliaksandr Tarajkouski's Death Told in Detail How the Hero Was Killed
PHOTO: AP

On August 10, Viachaslau Smolski was next to Tarajkouski.

Viachaslau Smolski, an architect-designer, was forced to leave for Ukraine after he turned to the headquarters of Viktar Babaryka with a proposal to testify as a witness against the security forces in the case of the murder of Hero of Belarus Aliaksandr Tarajkouski, Radio Svaboda reports.

Viachaslau himself was in danger when, during a search in Viktar Babaryka's headquarters, computers were seized, which most likely contained his correspondence with the headquarters lawyers. And soon after that, someone broke the lock in his apartment, Smolski said while in Kyiv:

"I don't know who it was - ordinary thieves or criminals in uniform. At that moment, I was already hiding. "

Viachaslau Smolski (COURTESY PHOTO)

He moved to Ukraine on September 17 when the Ukrainian authorities closed the borders due to the coronavirus epidemic. He says that the border guards studied his passport for half an hour when crossing the Belarusian border, but still allowed him to leave.

"It was additional fear and stress," he admits.

Smolski has a fiancée and sick parents in Minsk. The father suffered four strokes, and the mother underwent oncological surgery.

How Tarajkouski died. Testified by Viachaslau Smolski

Today at the Belarusian Information Center in Kyiv, Viachaslau Smolski told how Aliaksandr Tarajkouski was shot:

"On August 9, in the area of the Kalvaryjskaja, special reaction force, AMAP, "Almaz," and others, shot at people with traumatic bullets, and, in the area of the stele, there were explosions of flash-noise grenades. But, despite this, people came out on August 10 too.

Our column moved from the side of the Pushkinskaja metro station. In the area of the bridge on Kalvaryjskaja, we learned that "Almaz" was waiting for us on the other side. It would have been a tactical mistake to go to the bridge, we turned around and went to Pushkinskaja again. About three thousand people gathered there. People stood at the intersection of Pushkina Avenue and Prytytskaha Street, holding flags, chanting. The bus and car drivers set up a traffic jam so that the security forces could not pass. However, "Almaz" and, as the media later wrote, the KGB special forces came to us on the sidewalk, from the Kalvaryjskaja street.

At some point, I saw that 20 people remained next to me - people fled, panic began, the drivers began to leave. And, after the slogan "Police is with the people," the security forces began to use flash-noise grenades.

At some point, I started filming a video. I don't understand why, but it became very important. In front of me was Tarajkouski, who was walking in shorts, a T-shirt, empty-handed, and this can be clearly seen in the video. This confirms that the Ministry of Internal Affairs' version that he "exploded on an improvised explosive device" that he carried towards the security forces is a blatant lie and an attempt to hide a crime against humanity.

The security forces were completely safe - in bulletproof vests, in uniform, with weapons. Opposite them were people, most of whom were in shorts and T-shirts; people who tried to protect their vote.

Despite this, the security forces carried out the order. Their goal was to shoot to kill and suppress the protest by any means. Aliaksandr, moving towards the security forces, raised his hands, and, at that moment, a flash-noise grenade flew past him, which was aimed at his stomach, but did not reach him. And when he walked another two meters forward, they shot at him, after which he began to bend and fall, and, as can be seen from another video, there was another shot at him, from the other side.

At the same moment, the guy standing in front of me raised his hands up because a flash grenade hit him, which tore off his step with its explosion. People took him to a bus stop, put him in an ambulance, but now his fate is unknown - he did not appear in any reports of human rights activists or the media.

My friends put the second guy in a personal car. Then, there was news about him that his leg was amputated due to a flashbang grenade.

The bus driver was wounded in the back, and, as doctors later said, his internal organs were visible.

That night, I took about 10 people home from the street. We followed the news through a vpn proxy because the Internet in Belarus was blocked.

There is no freedom of speech in Belarus. In Belarus, to be honest, there is nothing but a people, a strong people who can no longer be intimidated, who have ceased to be afraid. Belarus has never been so close-knit; people take to the streets and try to defend their voice. They want to create an honest state: without corrupt judges, prosecutors, without the cruelty that is committed against them. And I believe that we will be able to do it," said Viachaslau Smolski.

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