Zakharanka, Hanchar, Krasouski, Zavadski: What Happened To Families Of Persons Missing In Belarus

On August 30, the world celebrates the International Day of the Disappeared.

According to official statistics, several hundred people are registered missing in Belarus every year, Radio Svaboda reports. Some are found, but many more names are added to the list of those for whom relatives and police will search for years. Often - unsuccessfully.

The reasons for the disappearance of people are different – criminal, domestic, associated with a state of health or an antisocial way of life. A separate group among the missing are those who fell victim to politically motivated kidnapping. In modern Belarus, among such people are former Interior Minister Yury Zakharanka, the former chairman of the Central Election Commission and the deputy chairman of the Supreme Council Viktar Hanchar, his friend businessman Anatol Krasouski and the ORT cameraman, Belarusian journalist Zmitser Zavadski. Are there any news relating to these missing people?

Yury Zakharanka

The former Minister of the first government of the times of Lukashenka, oppositionist Yury Zakharanka suddenly disappeared in May 1999, and nothing has been known about his fate since then.

The investigation into the case of the disappearance of Yury Zakharanka is regularly extended, but, according to human rights activists Aleh Vouchak and Raisa Mikhailouskaya, the authorities merely imitate Yury Zakharanka's search. The opposition believes that his disappearance is the result of the work of the Belarusian "death squads" – special groups of special forces that in the late 1990s carried out orders for the physical destruction of the most influential opposition leaders.

Yury Zakharanka's family left for Germany in the early 2000s. In August 2018, his mother, Uliana Zakharanka, who was 94 years old, died in the village of Vasilevichy, Homel region. She waited for her son to return for more than 18 years. By the way, Belarusian courts never recognized Yury Zakharanka as dead, which did not allow his relatives to resolve issues with his property.

Viktar Hanchar

In September of the same year of 1999, Viktar Hanchar disappeared in Minsk. He was a Belarusian opposition leader, heading that part of the Supreme Council of Belarus, which did not recognize Lukashenka's dissolution of the Belarusian parliament in 1996 and continued to fight for the country's return to democracy.

It is believed that Viktar Hanchar's abduction was done similar to the abduction of Yury Zakharanka. According to public investigation information, the car of one of the riot police officers again figured in the case. The participation of this person in the case was later confirmed by the information that a special gun was used to destroy Viktar Hanchar – the service weapons that were used at that time in Belarus to carry out the death sentences.

Two years later the court recognized Viktar Hanchar as missing, but the Belarusian society still does not have information that the criminal case on the disappearance of the oppositionist was finished.

Viktar Honchar's wife Zinaida Hanchar lives and works in Minsk, in recent years she has not commented on her husband's case.

Anatol Karasouski

Businessman Anatol Krasouski disappeared with his friend Viktar Hanchar on the same day, September 17, 1999. This happened after Hanchar and Krasouski visited a sauna on Fabrychnaya Street in Minsk.

Later, a version arose that Anatol Krasouski was not only Viktar Hanchar's friend, but also took part in the financing of a number of opposition projects. The disappearance of Anatol Krasouski is not investigated, as well as Viktar Hanchar's disappearance. The information provided to the investigators did not help, Anatol Krasouski could also be killed from the "special service gun."

His wife Iryna Krasouskaya lives in the US, where she continues to participate in public life, including in the search for the truth about the disappearances of Belarusian oppositionists.

Zmitser Zavadski

The ORT cameraman Zmitser Zavadski disappeared 18 years ago, in July 2000.

He went to the Minsk airport to meet his colleague Pavel Sharamet. His car was found in the parking lot of the airport with wiped fingerprints, Zmitser was not there.

In March 2002, 4 people were convicted in the case of Zmitser Zavadski's abduction: former officers of the special police detachment Almaz. Later, the court considered Zmitser Zavadski dead, but the body has not yet been found. Zmitser Zavadski's case, like the cases of Yury Zakharanka, Viktar Hanchar and Anatol Krasouski, is not closed, although there is no progress in the search.

ORT cameraman's mother Volha Zavadskaya is convinced that while Lukashenka is in power, the truth about the fate of her son, like the fate of other disappeared political activists, will not be revealed.

Zmitser Zavadski's wife Sviatlana married again, bringing up a daughter.