Captured on CCTV: Belarus bomb suspect seen carrying device on to packed subway train
Dramatic CCTV footage from Belarus has shown a man leaving a bag on a subway train before a bomb attack that killed 12 people this week.
More than 200 people were injured in Monday’s blast on the platform of the main subway station in the Belarussian capital Minsk and five people have now been arrested.
Authorities believe the bomb may have been remote-controlled after CCTV showed one suspect leaving a bag in the Oktyabrskaya subway station in central Minsk and feeling around for something in his pocket shortly before the explosion.
Three men were arrested yesterday, including a man in his mid-20s who the security services said was ‘not only unhealthy in his psychological state but unhealthy in his ambitions’.
Two further arrests were made today, bringing to five the number of suspects in the deadly subway bombing.
Bomber? CCTV footage shows as a man highlighted as a suspected executor of the bomb blast at the Oktyabrskaya metro station in Belarus this week
Remote detonation: . CCTV footage showed one suspect leaving a bag in the Oktyabrskaya subway station in central Minsk and feeling around for something in his pocket shortly before the explosion
Announcing the new arrests Thursday, Deputy Prosecutor General Andrei Shved said all five suspects were Belarusian citizens under the age of 30 without previous convictions.
He refused to release their identities, discuss what roles the other suspects played, or speculate on their motives.
President Alexander Lukashenko has already suggested that the blast was the work of dissidents and has ordered the prosecutor general to round them up for interrogation, fueling speculation the strongman is seeking to use the explosion as a pretext to pressure opposition groups and independent journalists.
‘We have become united as never before, and the rare voices (of discord) we hear today, including in some mass media, are an echo of the past,’ Lukashenko said today at a meeting with top Orthodox Church hierarchs.
Deputy Prosecutor General Shved confirmed the interrogations had begun and more would be conducted, but there were no details.
In New York, the U.N. Security Council ‘condemned in the strongest terms the apparent terrorist attack’ at the subway station. A council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly, said ‘the word “apparent” is included in this statement for a reason.’
The council statement expressed ‘deep sympathy’ for the victims, reaffirmed that ‘any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable’, and reminded all countries that any measures to combat terrorism must comply with international human rights, refugee and humanitarian law.
Belarussian policemen carry the lids of the coffins of Galina Pikulik and Anatoliy Narkevich, victims of the Minsk metro bombing that killed 12 and wounded 200 on April 11
Belarussian policemen fire a salute over the graves of bomb blast victims at the Kolodishchi cemetry on the outskirts of Minsk
Relatives of Galina Pikulik cry during a funeral ceremony in Minsk - five suspects have now been arrested
Interior Minister Anatoly Kuleshov said the main suspect also was involved in a bomb blast at a concert in Minsk in July 2008, which wounded about 50 people, and two bombings in September 2005 in the city of Vitebsk that wounded 48 people.
Belarus observed a day of mourning for the victims yesterday, and several funerals were held. Several hundred people showed up at the Minsk subway station to observe a minute of silence at 6 p.m., the time of Monday's blast. Flags flew with black ribbons and residents sobbed as they viewed portraits of the victims at the station.
Opposition activists worry the internet, the last pillar of free speech in the tightly controlled nation, could suffer unprecedented restrictions in the wake of the blast.
Prosecutor General Grigory Vasilevich said yesterday ‘it is necessary to bring order’ to certain internet portals that covered the bombing. State television today lambasted opposition web sites that suggested the blast was useful for the authorities, saying they harmed the country's interests.
Alexander Starikevich, editor of the Solidarity opposition site, said he had received a warning from the prosecutor's office for ‘discrediting’ the nation.
‘We fear our site will be closed, because the Internet is the only alternative and independent source of information and the authorities are scared of this,’ Starikevich said.
People help a victim of the blast in central Minsk that injured more than 200 people and killed 12 this week
Authoritarian: Critics of Belarussian president Alexander Lukashenko (left), including ex-presidential candidate Grigory Kostusev (right), believe the strongman ruler may use this week's bombing to consolidate power
Medics examine a survivor of the blast near the metro station Oktyabrskaya in central Minsk
A wounded blast victim is brought by rescuers to an ambulance vehicle after this week's deadly subway explosion
President Lukashenko, dubbed ‘Europe's last dictator’ by the West, had already launched a widespread crackdown on opposition members after mass protests erupted over the December presidential election. He was declared the overwhelming winner of that vote, which international observers strongly criticised and opponents said was rigged.
President Lukashenko has run the former Soviet nation of 10 million with an iron fist for nearly 17 years, retaining Soviet-style controls over the economy and cracking down on opposition and independent media.
Belarus is going through a severe economic crisis, with hard currency reserves running critically low and a possible currency devaluation looming.
‘Lukashenko needs to find a scapegoat for the disastrous situation in the country,’ said former presidential candidate Grigory Kostusev, who was jailed during the December rally. He was released and is now facing 15 years in prison for staging the rally.
‘With the economic collapse looming, Lukashenko is trying to make the most of it by consolidating public opinion by offering it a theory about foreign enemies from Strasbourg who colluded with the opposition,’ said independent political analyst Alexander Sosnov.
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