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From: TT
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Photo: AP / TT
Minsk residents rallied to honor 31-year-old Roman Bondarenko, who died earlier this week in a Minsk hospital after being brutally beaten by police, according to protesters.
Byelorussian police arrested dozens of people during a demonstration in Minsk, according to a witness and various local media.
Protesters are protesting Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, who refuses to resign despite months of mass protests following a presidential election widely viewed as “pure game” for galleries. According to witnesses, the police fired rubber bullets and the Russian news agency Interfax reports that tear gas has been used to disperse people.
Since the August elections, thousands of people have been arrested on arbitrary grounds. Many of them have been beaten, in some cases to death. That appears to have been the case for 31-year-old Roman Bondarenko, who died in hospital Thursday after other protesters said he was brutally beaten by security forces.
The Minsk Interior Ministry denies being involved in the Bondarenko case, claiming that the 31-year-old was injured in a street fight.
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