Yury Zakharanka Abducted 20 Years Ago

We remember.

On May 7, 1999, Yury Zakharanka, the former Interior Minister, disappeared on his way home, near the Mahiliouskaya street in Minsk. At that time he was 47 years old, tut.by reminds.

Yury Zakharanka began his career as an investigator, headed the investigative department, was head of the Internal Affairs Department of the Homel Regional Executive Committee until 1991. Then he became the head of the Investigation Department, and then headed the Investigative Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus.

Immediately after Lukashenka’s election as president, he was appointed the Interior Minister. In October 1995, Lukashenka dismissed Zakharanka and later the former minister was demoted to a police colonel and dismissed from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, allegedly for gross financial violations and omissions in work.

Soon after that, Yury Zakharanka joined the opposition. In February 1998, he headed the security committee in the “shadow government”. In the spring of 1999, Zakharanka actively participated in the presidential election campaign organized by the opposition, he was part of former Prime Minister Mikhail Chyhir’s team, traveled around the country, organized groups to collect signatures. On May 7, 1999, he called home, told his wife: “I will come soon, heat the dinner,” but he never returned home.

After Zakharanka disappeared, on September 17, 1999, a criminal case was initiated on his murder under Article 101 of the Criminal Code (Premeditated Murder). For many years, the official investigation has not made any progress.

In 1999-2000, Acting Chairman of the Supreme Council Viktar Hanchar, businessman Anatol Krasouski, former Interior Minister Yury Zakharanka and journalist Dzmitry Zavadski disappeared without a trace in Belarus.

Subsequently, documents were published, including the report of Deputy Interior Minister Mikalai Lapatsik, which testified that the death squad had dealt with opposition politicians and public figures. The orders had been given by the top leadership of the country.

The international community believes that former interior minister Uladzimir Naumau, chief of Lukashenka’s administration Viktar Sheiman, former commander of the special forces of the interior troops Dzmitry Paulichenka and former interior minister Yury Sivakou were involved in the disappearance of Yuri Zakharanka and other leaders of the Belarusian opposition.

In October 2014, the Zakharanka family appealed to the Investigation Committee of Belarus with a request to terminate the investigation into the case of his disappearance and to provide all the documents for familiarization. But the investigation was constantly extended, and 20 years later, in January 2019, the Investigation Committee suspended the investigation into the disappearance of ex-Interior Minister Zakharanka “due to the failure to identify the person to be charged as a defendant in the criminal proceeding.”

“If he is identified, the investigation will be immediately resumed, of which you will be notified additionally,” – the notification to the ex-minister’s family said.

“We don’t know what they did to him after the abduction: how and where they were torturing him”

Yury Zakharanka’s wife and children live in Germany, where they were granted political asylum. As the ex-minister’s daughter, Alena, told Narodnaya Volia, May 7 is a tragic day for the family.

“On this day, our whole life instantly turned over. We know when the father was abducted, but we do not know when and how he died. We don’t know what they did to him after the abduction: how and where they were tormenting, torturing him ... But we don’t even have the opportunity to visit his grave. And where is it, this grave? Yet when a person buries his loved one, sees him in a coffin, says goodbye to him, after a while, his heart somehow calms down. But we did not say goodbye to our father, he is between heaven and earth for us...” – the daughter, Alena Zakharanka, said in the interview.

The ex-minister’s mother, Uljana Zakharanka, died last year; she was 94 years old. After the disappearance of her son, the woman stayed in Belarus, lived in the town of Vasilevichy, Rechytsa district. For the past 19 years, the woman had been waiting for information about the investigation into her son’s disappearance, and tried to get her son recognized dead via the court.

The investigation into the circumstances of the disgraced general’s disappearance is under the control of the UN Human Rights Committee. On the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, British diplomats appeal to the Belarusian authorities to complete the investigation into the disappearances of Anatol Krasouski, Dzmitry Zavadski, Viktar Hanchar and Yury Zakharanka.

Besides, in 2011, the European Union, against four Belarusians, whom Brussels suspects of involvement in the high-profile disappearances of 1999-2000, imposed an arms embargo on Belarus. Every year this embargo is extended.