Investigation Into Hanchar And Krasouski's Disappearances Resumed In Belarus

A month ago, former SOBR special police unit fighter Yury Harauski made sensational confessions.

The Investigative Committee (IC) of Belarus has resumed the preliminary investigation into the disappearances of former head of the Central Election Commission Viktar Hanchar and businessman Anatol Krasouski, who supported the opposition, on September 16, 1999. Iryna Krasouskaya reported about it to Deutsche Welle on Wednesday, January 15. On December 22 last year, she sent an electronic petition to the IC demanding to resume the suspended investigation in connection with Yury Harauski's statements.

The police will conduct investigative actions

"During the investigation of the criminal case it is planned to carry out investigative actions aimed at checking the information, presented by Yury Harauski in his interview to Deutsche Welle journalists, as well as to give a legal assessment of the information," - the IC document, dated December 18, informs. Earlier, also on December 18, the IC resumed only one case concerning disappearance of former Interior Minister of Belarus General Yury Zakharanka on May 7, 1999.

Two days earlier, the Deutsche Welle media company published an interview with former SOBR fighter Yury Harauski, in which he confessed to being involved in killing former Interior Minister Zakharanka, as well as former head of the Central Election Commission Viktar Hanchar and businessman Anatol Krasouski.

According to Harauski, all three were shot by SOBR commander Dzmitry Paulichenka. At present, Harauski is seeking asylum in a Western European country.

The IC of Belarus refused to resume the case of Zavadski's disappearance

On December 23, Sviatlana Zavadskaya, the wife of ORT operator Dzmitry Zavadski, who was abducted in Belarus on July 7, 2000, also filed an application to the IC of Belarus. She asked to question as witnesses the persons whose names former SOBR fighter Yury Harauski mentioned in his interview to Deutsche Welle. However, in a letter addressed to Zavadskaya, the IC reported that there were no grounds to resume the suspended preliminary investigation.

"The persons, who committed the abduction of your husband, have been identified and convicted for this crime by the verdict of the Minsk Regional Court of 14.03.2002," - the IC reply to Sviatlana Zavadskaya says. Commenting on the response of the Investigative Committee, Zavadskaya called it a cynical fudge. She stressed that only his abduction of her husband was imposed as a crime, but the fate of Dzmitry Zavadski has not yet been clarified.