Belarusian sportsman killed in Cuba because of a cell phone

• 9.03.2010, 10:22

Alyaksandr Mazyrko was only 31; he was hitchhiking around Cuba and was killed while asleep.

Information about a murder of Alyaksandr Mazyrko, a sportsman from Slonim, appeared in early March. The newspaper “Gazeta Slonimskaya” managed to find the sportsman’s phone number, but wasn’t able to reach him. Alyaksandr Mazyrko’s friends from parachute club, confirmed his death.

As it was found out, Alyaksandr Mazyrka decided to hitchhike across Cuba. On January 4, he arrived in the country by air. He planned to travel across the island on bicycle and also visit Haiti to help earthquake victims.

“I got the last SMS massage from Sasha on January 20,” his friend Alyaksandr Holub says. “He wrote he was sunburnt, but he enjoyed swimming in the Caribbean Sea. Hew promised to tell everything after returning home.”

On January 29, it was reported that Alyaksandr Mazyrko had been killed. Belarus’s Embassy in Cuba informed friends and relatives that the Slonim sportsman was travelling with a Cuban, who was suspect of murder.

Alyaksandr Mazyrko was killed at night January 21/22 while asleep. He was hit on his head with a stone. A possible reason for the murder is Mazyrka’s belongings: a cell phone, a camera, clothes. Mobile communication has appeared in Cuba only recently, cell phones are very expensive there.

Alyaksandr Mazyrko was 31 years old. He was born in the town of Zelva, graduated from a local school. The sportsman was buried on the local cemetery. It took a very long time to carry Alyaksandr Mazyrko’s body to Minsk.