Death of Raman Bandarenka

Raman Bandarenka (Раман Бандарэнка) (August 1, 1989, Minsk – November 12, 2020, Minsk) was an aspiring Belarusian designer, and shop manager.

Raman Bandarenka born on August 1, 1989, in Minsk.

After school, he entered the Minsk State College of Architecture and Construction, and then the Belarusian State Academy of Arts, graduating from the Faculty of Design in 2012.

In 2014, he was conscripted into the 3rd Separate Special-Purpose Brigade of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus (military unit 3214), and subsequently stayed in contact with his colleagues.

Later, he worked as an administrator and then director of one of the retail stores of the "Ostrov Chistoty" in Minsk.

During the protests, the yard next to the house in which Raman lived became widely known as the "Square of Changes (Rus: PloschaPeramen)".

This name arose after residents of the residential complex in the quarter between Chervyakova, Kakhovskaya and Smorgovsky tract streets painted a mural with "DJs of Change," two DJs who played the Russian pop song called "Khochu peremen" at an event and were subsequently arrested, on one of the walls of a transformer booth.

This mural was repeatedly destroyed, but then restored again by the local residents.

The yard was often covered with red and white ribbons, symbolising the flag of the Belarusian Democratic Republic, which has become a symbol for the freedom movement in Belarus.

His death is associated with the protests against the 2020 Belarusian presidential election.

Raman Bandarenka died after reportedly being beaten by security forces.

Police forces said they found him unconscious and called an ambulance.

According to sources, masked assailants in civilian clothing beat him up, in the yard of his apartment building, in the evening of November 11, 2020, in Minsk.

Locally, this apartment complex is known as "Square of Changes" (Ploshcha Peramen).

Later, a minibus took him away.

An ambulance brigade brought from the Central District Department of Internal Affairs (Police Station) to a local hospital.

At the time the ambulance took him, he was unconscious.

At the hospital, he was diagnosed with different injuries to the head and brain, bruises, and abrasions.

Banderenka went into surgery in an attempt to save his life and fell into a coma.

He never recovered and died on November 12, 2020, in the hospital in Minsk.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights spoke about his death.

In March 2023, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of the Order of the Pahonia.

On November 11, 2020, at about 22:00, six men and 3 women in civilian clothes and in masks arrived at the "Square of Changes" and began to cut off the red and white ribbons placed by local residents.

Raman Bandarenka found out about this in a local text chat in the popular app Telegram.

He posted his final message in the group, "I'm going out!"

before going out to the street to see what was happening.

Outside, he stood watching what was happening.

According to reports, he may have made a remark to which one of the masked people replied to him harshly before pushing Raman to the ground.

At this time, Raman hit his head on a children's slide as he fell.

The masked assailants proceeded to pin Raman to the ground and command him to "Lie down!"

The main initiator of the fight left, and three others continued to beat him.

Following the assault, Raman was dragged off to a silver minibus.

This is the last known time he was seen conscious.

The events of this evening were filmed by eyewitnesses from different angles and then posted on the net.

He was taken to the Central District Department of Internal Affairs (Police Station), from which he was admitted to the Emergency Department of the Minsk City Clinical Emergency Hospital on November 12 at 0:05.

He was diagnosed with multiple injuries.

He underwent an operation in an attempt to save his life.

Raman Bandarenka died on November 12, 2020.

As of January, 14, 2021, no criminal case was opened on his killing.

On November 16, 2020, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia imposed a travel ban against the kickboxer Dmitry Shakuta and the president of the Belarusian hockey federation Dzmitry Baskau ‘for an unspecified period’ because of their alleged involvement in the killing of Raman Bandarenka.