Mother Of Abducted Ex-Minister Of Interior Ulliana Zakharanka Died

Ulliana Zakharanka died at the age of 94.

Head of the Belarusian Documentary Center Raisa Mikhailouskaya informed this via Facebook.

Ulliana Zakharanka is the mother of the former Interior Minister, one of the leaders of the Belarusian opposition Yury Zakharanka, who was abducted in Belarus in 1999.

For the last 19 years, Ulliana Zakharanka has been seeking an investigation into the case of her son's disappearance, including in the international structures. For example, in her latest address to the UN Working Group on the Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, the mother of the disappeared politician asked the international body to take urgent action in connection with the current situation of non-investigation by the Republic of Belarus of crimes against humanity related to violent and involuntary disappearances of Yury Zakharanka, Viktar Hanchar, Anatol Krasouski and Dzmitry Zavadski.

General Yury Zakharanka disappeared on May 7, 1999.

According to the official version, this happened in the evening in the area of Zhukouski Street in Minsk, when he was abducted with the use of violence by "unidentified persons" and taken away in a car in an unknown direction. On the fact of the disappearance of the ex-Minister of Internal Affairs, the criminal case was initiated only on September 17, 1999, under Article 101 of the Criminal Code. Witnesses of abduction, who were found not by investigative authorities, but by a public commission to search for the missing general, claim that Zakharanka was forcibly taken away by several men.

A few years earlier, Zakharanka was dismissed from his post for not sharing the vision of Lukashenka and his entourage. The general was respected by his colleagues, he was engaged in the creation of the Union of Officers. Therefore, his opposition activities presented particular danger for the authorities.

Many in Belarus and the world believe that he was kidnapped for political reasons and, possibly, killed. The Belarusian authorities state that the investigation has not yet been completed and the reasons for Zakharanka's abduction, like his fate, remain unknown.