WELLS – Maine State Police have tentatively concluded that the 2006 death of a student from Belarus was a suicide, but the case will undergo a final review at the request of the governor, who has been contacted by Belarus’ U.S. ambassador.

Aliaksei Vasileuski, 20, of Shchuchin, Belarus, was found dead outside a boardinghouse in Wells on June 20 – two days after he arrived in the U.S. – with a stab wound to his neck. Vasileuski, a student at the National Technical University in Belarus, was working for a food vendor at a Maine Turnpike plaza in Kennebunk.

Maine State Police said the case was closed about a month ago and the death was ruled an apparent suicide.

But the case will be reviewed again at the request of Gov. John Baldacci, who heard from Belarus officials last month about their concerns about the case. Public Safety Commissioner Anne Jordan will conduct the final review, according to Public Safety Department spokesman Stephen McCausland.

Officials at the Belarus Embassy in Washington last year insisted that Vasileuski’s death was a murder and that police should pursue the investigation more forcefully. Pavel Shidlovsky, counselor at the embassy, said embassy officials still believe the death was a murder and were upset they weren’t informed that the case was closed.

Baldacci told the embassy just last month that he had asked the commissioner to look at the case, Shidlovsky said.

“The governor said he shared our frustration and informed us he had contacted the commissioner’s office and requested a review of the information and asked that they respond directly to the embassy,” Shidlovsky said.

McCausland said a copy of Baldacci’s letter to the Belarus Embassy never arrived at the Public Safety Department, and that police will take another look at the case now that they’ve learned about the letter.

While state police investigators have ruled the death an apparent suicide, the medical examiner’s office wasn’t as sure. The office said Vasileuski died of a sharp force injury to the neck, but that the manner of death was undetermined.

Shidlovsky said there was nothing in Vasileuski’s profile to suggest he would commit suicide.

He had never been seen by a psychiatrist or psychologist and had never had psychological problems, Shidlovsky said. Those who knew him at his schools and university characterized him as diligent, literate and balanced.