Ulyana Zakharanka: New head of Interior Ministry won’t investigate the case of my son too

On February 6 the mother of General Yury Zakharanka, the abducted Interior ex-Minister of Interior Affairs of Belarus turns 86.

She does not know anything about her son for about 11 years already… On one of May evenings 1999 not far from his house Zakharanka was forcibly abducted by the unknown…

- I am seriously ill now, – said Ullyana Ryhorauna to “Narodnaya Volya”. – One of these days I felt so bad that I though I won’t survive till birthday. I was to be taken to hospital, but there are no vacant places there now, they have many patients. And I have such a state… I have fits in every hour or two, medical ambulance arrives day and night. My heart is very bad. They administer injections, but what’s the use if I am crying almost all the time, I am distressed…and besides, I am alone in the house, I am not needed by anyone…

I had such good sons, they looked after me, they were supportive to me, and now… I do not have them. I have only a niece, but she works, she has a big farmstead, she cannot visit me often. And recently water was frozen, and light in the house went out. It is good that an electrician lives not far from me, I paid to him and he helped me…

I almost never leave the house, I cannot, after a few steps my heart is failing…

Volha and daughters call me from Germany every day. They can call even several times. They are worried about me, they say” Granny, tough it out!” They want to meet with me, and I do not know whether I will see spring… my granddaughter says that she fears to come to Belarus, so maybe we will meet in Ukraine. My sister lives there, and I haven’t seen her for 15 years. Maybe I will be taken there this year when it will be warm…

My granddaughter Lena has an adult son. He is clever, he studies well. He knows German and English. Now he is actively studying Russian. When they left Belarus, he was just a baby and immediately was immersed into the new language. Lena is an excellent person. She drives, works as a sjhop assistant, and when she has free time, she is a nurse for elderly persons. She is paid 30 Euros for 2 hours. Yuliya, another granddaughter, also has a decent live, she has a child…

Recently I have read statements of a new Interior Minister Anatol Kulyashou in “Narodnaya Volya”. It seems to me that he won’t take responsibility and investigate Yury’s case. Why should he risk his position?

Aleh Vouchak: “I am ready to sign obligation of confidentiality…”

Lawyer Aleh Vouchak, a representative if Zakharanka’s family, states that he has something to say to investigators who are in charge of the criminal case of the former Interior Minister.

- I worked in the prosecutor’s office myself and I know that when such cases are investigated, investigators invite for conversations relatives of the disappeared or their representatives at least once a year, - Aleh Vouchak said. They may receive some information on the case, they may have met someone. Any details are important for an investigator. Such meetings were a normal practice once. Now unfortunately many things have changed in the work of the prosecutor’s office. People are not invited to a conversation with an investigator.

If I were invited, I would file a petition to interrogate Alyaksandr Lukashenka in this case. Last year he disclosed important information concerning Zakharanka. He said that it was a murder because of money. “They promised to buy or sell something. They were not true to their promise and were murdered, as it is usual in half-bandit milieu,” Lukashenka said to Russian journalists. “In fact, in two cases these were murders for commercial reasons… Traces of murderers have been recently found in Germany.” I would like to know the name of the person who, according to the president, is hiding in Germany. In all probability, he knows it, so he should tell it to investigators. I would like to note that German law-enforcing agencies stated officially, that there are no traces of Zakharanka found in Germany.

Another consideration. All the materials of the criminal case are kept by investigators. And nobody including the president has a right to talk about them for the benefit of investigation. Or is Lukashenka a member of investigation group on this case already?

I would like to emphasize once again that complainants have a right to know about the progress of investigation. Families or their representatives must be acquainted with at least some intermediate result of investigators’ work. If somebody fears publicity, I and Zakharanka’s family are ready to sign obligation of confidentiality…