Belarusian opposition journalist’s death not suicide – colleague

In Belarus, the founder of an opposition internet site has been found dead in his residence outside the country’s capital Minsk. Although prosecutors cite suicide, his colleagues are not convinced.Kovrigin pointed out that the autopsy showed no body injuries except for a characteristic mark on Bebenin’s neck.Minsk police press service chief Aleksandr Danilchenko told RIA Novosti news agency earlier that Bebenin’s body was found at his dacha in the Dzerzhinsk region in a noose.“The body was hanging in a hand made noose, attached to a staircase leading to the second floor. There was an overturned stool nearby,” Danilchenko said.There were no signs of violence or damage found, he added. Neighbors said that they had not seen anybody visiting the man on the eve of his death.However, Oleg Bebenin’s colleague Andrey Sannikov said that he does not believe that Bebenin committed suicide.“There are a lot of things that raise serious doubts,” Sannikov pointed out in his address on charter97.org web site. “No note has been found. The last text messages that he sent to his friends show that he was going to the cinema with them on Thursday night.”Sannikov added that a week earlier Bebenin had just returned from a family holiday in Greece.“We had big plans, we met every day,” Sannikov said. “It is strange that the Interior Ministry has been spreading its version before autopsy results.”Journalist Oleg Bebenin set up his opposition website charter97.org back in 1998. He is survived by his wife and two sons  RT