Charkasava murder remains mystery four years after
The brutal
murder of journalist Veronika Charkasava remains a mystery four years after, with
investigators seem resigned to the fact that the case will never be solved.
Charkasava
was found dead with more than 40 stab wounds in her
The probe
was suspended in February 2007 for a lack of suspects.
Syarhey
Ivanou, head of the Investigations Department of the Minsk City Prosecutor's
Office, admitted in an interview with the Belarusian Association of Journalists
(BAJ) in early October that the enquiry has made no progress.
While many
journalists link the killing to her reporting, investigators appeared to ignore
work-related motives.
Initial
investigations focused on Charkasava's 16-year-old son, Anton Filimonau, as the
prime suspect. On December 28, he was arrested on an unrelated counterfeiting
charge but prosecutors pressured him to confess to his mother's killing. Anton
was released on bail 75 days later. He later left
Fellow journalists
insist that it was a contract killing, arguing that 99 percent of domestic violence
and murder cases are solved within days. Charkasava covered social and cultural
issues for Salidarnasts, but she occasionally
wrote about sensitive topics such as drug abuse and surveillance by the
Committee for State Security (KGB).
