Today’s 24 Years Since Viktar Hanchar And Anatol Krasouski Were Abducted

We remember!

Twenty-four years ago, opposition politician Viktar Hanchar and businessman Anatol Krasouski were abducted in Minsk.

On the evening of September 16, 1999, Hanchar and his friend Krasouski arrived at a bathhouse located on Fabrychnaya Street, 20 in Minsk. They were last seen at approximately 10:35 pm, when both left the building and got into Krasouski’s Jeep Cherokee.

According to the investigation, during an inspection of the surrounding area, fragments of car headlights, traces of the car braking and hitting a tree, as well as traces of blood were found. The results of the examination showed that the degree of confidence in the origin of blood stains from Hanchar is 99.6%.

A criminal case into the disappearance of Hanchar and Krasouski was opened by the Minsk prosecutor's office.

Representatives of the opposition, relatives of the missing and the international community believe that Hanchar and Krasouski were abducted for political reasons. They suspect senior officials of Belarus of involvement in this crime.

Four Belarusian citizens whom the European Union considers involved in the disappearances of opposition politicians in 1999-2000 are still subject to visa and economic sanctions. Among them are former Minister of Internal Affairs Uladzimir Navumau, ex-head of Lukashenka’s administration Viktar Sheiman, Yury Sivakou, who served as Minister of Internal Affairs during the disappearance of politicians, and Dzmitry Paulichenka, former commander of the special forces brigade of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

On November 23, 2000, commander of the special forces brigade of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Dzmitry Paulichenka was arrested. His arrest was preceded by a report from the head of pre-trial detention center #1 Aleh Alkayeu about the seizure of the so-called “execution” pistol on the eve of the disappearances of Zakharanka, Hanchar and Krasouski.

Viktar Sheiman also came under suspicion. However, Paulichenka spent only a few hours in the pre-trial detention center. He was released by personal order of the president. A few days later, Prosecutor General Aleh Bazhelka and KGB Chairman Uladzimir Matskevich lost their positions. Bozhelka's place was taken by Viktar Sheiman.

In December 2019, ex-fighter of the special squad of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Yury Harauski, who calls himself a former soldier of the SOBR (special rapid reaction unit of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus), in an exclusive interview with DW, told how opposition politicians who sought Lukashenka’s resignation were abducted and killed: “I participated in murders of Zakharanka and Hanchar”.