2021 Minsk apartment shooting

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On 28 September 2021, Belarusian security officers raided an apartment in Minsk. After breaking down the door, a shootout began. Andrei Zeltser, a 31-year-old IT worker and supporter of the opposition, was killed, and a KGB officer, Dmitry Fedosyuk, was also killed after being shot by Zeltser. The government later called Zeltser a terrorist.

The authorities said the apartment belonged to an extremist group with ties to the opposition and that Zeltser and his wife lived there; she was arrested.

After the raid, more than 100 people were detained over social media posts about the event, on charges of insulting a government official or inciting hatred. By early November, over 136 people were detained for “whitewashing” Zeltser’s name on social networks, and many were denied access to legal counsel for a time. In February 2023, some detainees were released after serving their sentences.

Andrei Zeltser, born in 1989, was described as an opposition supporter and dissident. In August 2021, he posted an image of the white-red-white flag and urged people to unite. He worked for EPAM Systems. There was speculation he might hold U.S. citizenship.

Dmitry Fedosyuk, born in 1990, was a senior lieutenant in the KGB’s Alpha Group and had the call-sign Nirvana. His mother led a KGB department, and he was married with a five-year-old daughter. He was posthumously awarded the Order for Personal Courage.

Belarusian state television aired an edited video of the incident. The crackdown led to the arrest of many people for social media posts. A journalist, Gennady Mozheiko of Komsomolskaya Pravda in Belarus, was detained in Moscow and sent to Okrestina Detention Centre in Minsk. Belarusian authorities charged him with “whitewashing a criminal,” and later with inciting hatred and insulting a representative of the authorities. The Telegraph reported allegations of extraterritorial abduction; the Belarusian government said Mozheiko was arrested inside Belarus. Russia criticized the moves, while Belarus pressed on with charges.

At the funeral of the killed KGB officer, Major General Oleg Belokonev publicly urged revenge against opposition members. President Lukashenko later expressed that the government would not forgive the opposition for the death. Opposition activist Pavel Latushko argued that a fair investigation was impossible under Lukashenko, saying that not only Zeltser but anyone who disagrees with the regime was being labeled a terrorist.