No suspects in case of bomb explosion near KGB office in Vitsyebsk

No one is currently suspected of detonating a homemade explosive device near the regional office of the Committee for State Security (KGB) in Vitsyebsk on November 11, Pavel Traulka, spokesman for the Investigative Committee, told BelaPAN.

According to Mr. Traulka, more than 60 people have been questioned in connection with the explosion. The one person who was arrested and held in custody as a suspect has been released following an inquiry, he said.

The KGB press office said on Monday that three people had been arrested after the explosion on the basis of findings of the investigation and eyewitness accounts. According to the press office, one of them, a person with visible signs of a mental illness, had earlier phoned the KGB office and made offensive remarks about Belarusian authorities.

Experts currently work to identify the substance that was used in the bomb and establish how it was detonated, Mr. Traulka said.

The KGB press office initially reported that the perpetrators had set the bomb on fire to detonate it.

The "primitive homemade pyrotechnic device" went off at 6:48 p.m., breaking the glass of two windows. According to preliminary findings, the bomb was hidden inside a metal can of between 0.25 and 0.33 liters and consisted of a cardboard or plastic tube packed with between 50 and 70 grams of a pyrotechnic mixture. The bomb did not contain nails, metal balls or any other dangerous objects.

Criminal proceedings were instituted in connection with the incident under Part Three of the Criminal Code's Article 339, which penalizes "especially malicious hooliganism" and provides for a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.