
New York, September 8, 2010--Belarusian authorities must thoroughly investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of Aleh Byabenin, founder and director of the Minsk-based pro-opposition news website
Charter 97, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Byabenin's brother and several friends found the journalist hanging from a stairway in his summer house outside the capital city of Minsk on Friday at around 5 p.m., Natalya Radina, editor of Charter 97, told CPJ. Byabenin had made plans with friends Thursday afternoon to go to the movies the same evening, but failed to show up at the theater, Radina said.