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The 31-year-old soldier died last week from a brain injury suffered when he was arrested by Belarusian security. He was arrested after a dispute in a city square where protesters gather.
Mourning people gathered at a funeral at a church on the outskirts of Minsk carrying white and red flowers symbolizing opposition.
“It is not in our power to bring Roman back, but we can try to make sure that such crimes never happen again,” Sviatlana Cichanouskaja wrote on her Telegram account.
Aliaksandr Lukashenko won the August elections, but opposition leader Cichanouskaya denies this and calls on Belarusians to protest. Shortly after the elections, she herself went to Lithuania.
Lukashenko has ruled the country for more than a quarter of a century. The EU rejected the results of the August elections as “neither free nor fair” and refused to recognize Lukashenko as Belarusian president and imposed sanctions on officials close to Lukashenko.
During the funeral, the protesters chanted the slogans “Novels, you are a hero” and “I’m leaving.” The latter is the last message Bondarenka wrote in a general online family chat.
R. Bondarenko’s death from brain injuries was announced on November 12.
On Friday, Lukashenko said he would announce more information about Bondarenko’s death next week.
“Be patient. We will let you know all next week. Trust me, it will be interesting,” Lukashenko was quoted as saying by the BelTA news agency.
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