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OSCE secretary general directs that two experts be sent to Belarus to investigate death of journalist Aleh Byabenin

OSCE Secretary General Marc Perrin de Brichambaut has directed that two experts be sent to Belarus to investigate the cause of the death of journalist Aleh Byabenin, the press office of the Belarusian foreign ministry said on Wednesday, BelaPAN reports.

According to the press office, on September 21, the secretary general notified the ministry that he had tasked the OSCE senior police adviser with promptly selecting two experts in forensic medicine and sending them to Belarus.

The names of the experts and the date of their arrival are expected to become known within the next few days, the press office said.

The 36-year-old Byabenin, one of the prominent figures of an opposition group called Khartyya-97 (Charter’97) and the founder and director of the news website charter97.org, was found hanged in his summer house near Minsk on September 3.

As Alyaksandr Danilchanka, spokesman for the Minsk regional police department, told BelaPAN the following day, Mr. Byabenin’s body was found “hanging in a self-made noose from the stairways leading to the second floor, with a stool knocked over on the floor.”

He is believed to have committed suicide and there are not believed to be any suspicious circumstances, Mr. Danilchanka said. According to him, no marks of violence were found on the body. No suicide note was found.

The journalist’s associates insist that he had no reason to kill himself.