Uladzimir Hancharyk On ‘Death Squadrons’: I Believe Garavski

Lukashenka is aware of all the circumstances of the disappearances of the oppositionists.

Today, many do not remember that during the presidential campaign in 2001, the opposition candidate, then-trade union leader Uladzimir Hancharyk passed the journalists certain materials, that “exploded”. They shed light on the facts related to the disappearance of Yury Zakharanka, Viktar Hanchar and Anatol Krasouski. After 19 years, belsat.eu asked Hancharyk to tell where the documents came from, whose names appeared there, and under what condition a fair investigation of a high-profile case will take place.

- Mr. Hancharyk, in 2001 you, as a single opposition candidate, ran for the presidency of Belarus and during the election campaign you published documents related to the disappearance of opponents of Aliaksandr Lukashenka. What were in these documents?

- I want to remind you what time it was - 1999, 2000. It was a time when there were a lot of rumors in the society, talks about why people disappear ... There was this talk of “death squads”. And when I happened to get copies of these documents, I was surprised. How could this happen in our country? The document under the heading “classified”, the report of Major General Mikalai Lapatsik, who then led the criminal police, addressed to Interior Minister Navumau, contained information about those who gave the command to murder people.

Lapatsik wrote: “I am reporting that in April 1999, Sheiman gave Paulichenka the command to physically destroy former Interior Minister Zakharanka. Further, in September, Paulichenka held an action to capture and destroy Hanchar and Krasouski. ” Navumau’s resolution of November 21, 2000 was “For Execution”. That is, Navumau ordered Lapatsik to do something, but what exactly is unknown.

- When you got the documents, how did you decide to act? Did you immediately pass them on to the press?

- I did not immediately mention the names, because I was not an investigator and did not know whether it was true or not. Therefore, it was decided to send these documents to the head of state, Aliaksandr Lukashenka. I also wrote a letter to him, asking that he, as a “guarantor of the Constitution, the rights and freedoms of a citizen,” give the command to immediately conduct a thorough investigation of these materials, and since specific names of officials were revealed, they should be suspended for the duration of the investigation [from posts - edit.].

- What else was in the documents besides the report of Lapatsik?

- The despatch and report of Head of the pre-trial detention center Alkayeu, materials of inspections, protocols of his interrogation and issuance of a firing gun. And what is interesting: the dates of issue of this gun coincide with the dates of the disappearances of Zakharanka, Hanchar, and Krasouski. Another document was a decree on the preventive detention of Dzmitry Paulichenka. Then the KGB chairman Matskevich signed a decree that said: “The operational development materials contain genuine evidence that Paulichenka Dzmitry Valiaryanavich is the organizer and leader of the criminal group involved in the abduction and physical destruction of citizens” .

- By the way, it would be interesting to know how such documents came into your hands, who handed them over to you?

- I received them from Vasil Liavonau [Minister of Agriculture of Belarus in 1994-1997, died in 2015 - edit.]. How did they get to him? Well, let's stick to his version: from honest people who care about the fate of Belarus.

- Does it have anything to do with the Belarusian security forces?

- Yes.

- Do you think there still are such people in uniform, who are interested in disclosing the circumstances of the disappearance of the former Minister of the Interior?

- I think there are such people. Not all of them would follow such orders. I remember when during the election campaign [2001 - edit.] I was invited to the Investigatory Committee and the Prosecutor's Office. And then, when I was already answering questions, young guys and investigators confessed: “Mr. Hancharyk, we voted for you.”

“I believe Garavski”

- When you sent a letter to Lukashenka and then publicized the documents, what reaction of the authorities did you expect?

- I was counting on one thing: that a check of these facts will be carried out and they will say to me “thank you, we will continue to figure this out”. If the authorities wanted to bring the matter to an end and find the burial places of Zakharanka, Hanchar ... the Prosecutor General of Belarus then requested special equipment from Moscow [to search for the remains - Belsat.eu] and it was already going here, but then a command was given to return everything, and that was the end of the case.They could find something then, especially given that in the Lopatik report, a precise place was identified - a special section of the camp graves in the Northern Cemetery. It was necessary to check, but they did not check anything…

- 20 years have passed since the disappearance of Lukashenka’s opponents, and during this time a whole generation has grown up, for which the recent interview by Deutsche Welle’s with former SOBR fighter Yuri Garavski was simply a sensation. Do you believe his confession?

- I believe. There are so many details that a person couldn’t only know from some newspaper publications, for example, the distinguishing features of Hanchar [Garavski said that Hanchar lacked fingers on his foot], other sources familiar with the politician during his life confirm this - Belsat.eu]. There are such details, things that can be checked (and you must definitely check!): who shot, where he shot, who went, escorted, etc.

-But over the course of 20 years, an official investigation of the case has not progressed in any way. What does it mean?

- It is unlikely that the investigation will be carried out while this power exists ... Familiar lawyers expressed the opinion that at the initial stage all investigative actions were carried out competently, but then the “brake” started.

However, in 2002, when asked by deputy of the House of Representatives Valer Fralou about the missing people, Sheiman himself answered that the data obtained by the investigation allowed “with high probability to assert that Zakharanka was abducted by unidentified persons and taken away by car in an unknown direction”, this is a quote from the publication of Narodnaya Volya.

- After the confession of Garavski, even apolitical people actively discussed this topic. In your opinion, is there a demand for more information about the disappearances of Lukashenka’s opponents in the Belarusian society today? How relevant is the issue now?

- I believe there is such demand, there is such need. This is necessary for the development of the consciousness of the society and for the government itself, so that it is trusted. But how is it possible to trust if this really happened? The authorities need to take decisive steps. Lukashenka has repeatedly publicly admitted that he gave orders to destroy bandits, thieves in law. Well, it’s worth going further and acknowledging these facts.

Who gave the order?

- But Lukashenka also said that he himself was allegedly more interested than others in learning about the fate of the missing ...

- And let's compare with the case of Mikalutski. This was the head of the State Control Committee for the Mahiliou region and a friend of Lukashenka [Yauhen Mikalutski died in 1997 as a result of an explosion - edit.]. What did he do then? He said that it was an assassination attempt against the president! There were tough instructions to consider this case - and it was actually considered. They found the guilty, a trial was held. And how does Lukashenka react to the confession of Garavski? He says that Viktar Hanchar was his friend with whom they went to the bathhouse. And what, is the president in control?

Here is such a reaction and excuses that Hanchar and Zakharanka were seen later somewhere, that Zakharanka received some money from Ukraine - why say that?

- What kind of personal attitude of Lukashenka towards the cause of the missing is shown by such a reaction of his?

- I was surprised when, in an interview with Venediktov for Echo of Moscow, Lukashenka stated that he had not given such orders [to destroy opponents - edit.]. But no one said that the president had given the order. Nevertheless, someone still gave it. My conclusion: Lukashenka cannot be unaware of all the circumstances of the disappearances, he knows.

The task of the authorities now, when the investigation has once again resumed, is to bring this matter to an end and, perhaps, to have less politics there, but to consider a criminal case: who specifically participated in the crime.

- Can we expect that the case will be considered under the current regime? What can make Lukashenka take such a step?

- It's hard to count on this. But look, why did Garavski appear after so many years? There must be a reason. Perhaps this is conscience, perhaps something else. We can apply similar reasoning with regard to the president. The fact is that he must have a clear position, so that the case should be investigated thoroughly to the end. This would be useful both for society and for the government itself.