Uladzimir Navumau ( be, Уладзімір Навумаў, russian: Владимир Наумов, Vladimir Naumov, also ''Uladzimir Naumau''; born 7 February 1956 in

Smolensk Smolensk ( rus, Смоленск, p=smɐˈlʲensk, a=smolensk_ru.ogg) is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest c ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

) is a

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

ian politician accused of

human rights violations Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hum ...

. He was Minister of the Internal Affairs of

(2000-2009) and chairman of

Belarus Ice Hockey Federation The Belarusian Ice Hockey Association ( be, Федэрацыя хакея Рэспублікі Беларусь, russian: Федерация хоккея Республики Беларусь) is the governing body of ice hockey in Belarus. It was ...

. Navumau has been accused of violent crackdown of opposition protests following the Belarusian presidential election in 2006 and of being related to the disappearances of opposition leaders in 1999–2000.

Biography

Navumau has been working in the Minsk

Militsiya ''Militsiya'' ( rus, милиция, , mʲɪˈlʲitsɨjə) was the name of the police forces in the Soviet Union (until 1991) and in several Eastern Bloc countries (1945–1992), as well as in the non-aligned SFR Yugoslavia (1945–1992). The ...

since 1976. Between 1991 and 1999 he was commander of Berkut and

Almaz The Almaz (russian: Алмаз, lit=Diamond) program was a highly secret Soviet military space station program, begun in the early 1960s. Three crewed military reconnaissance stations were launched between 1973 and 1976: Salyut 2, Salyut 3 an ...

special units (

OMON OMON (russian: ОМОН – Отряд Мобильный Особого Назначения , translit = Otryad Mobil'nyy Osobogo Naznacheniya , translation = Special Purpose Mobile Unit, , previously ru , Отряд Милиции Осо� ...

) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of

. The

participated in the crackdown of protests before and after the controversial 1996 referendum. Between 1999 and 2000 Navumau was Head of the Presidential Security Service. From 2000 to 2009 he was Minister of Internal Affairs of Belarus. During his service in this position, the police and OMON forces dispersed protests related to the controversial presidential election of 2001, referendum of 2004 and presidential election in 2006.

Sanctions and Accusations

Navumau has been included into the sanctions lists of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

. According to a decision by the

, Navumau "failed to take action to investigate the case of the unresolved disappearances of Yuri Zakharenko, Viktor Gonchar, Anatoly Krasovski and

Dmitri Zavadski Dmitry Alexandrovich Zavadsky (russian: Дми́трий Алекса́ндрович Зава́дский) or Dzmitry Aliaksandravich Zavadski ( be, Дзмітрый Аляксандравіч Завадскі; 28 August 1972 – declared dead ...

in Belarus in 1999-2000 (...) As a Minister of Interior he was responsible for the repression over peaceful demonstrations until his retirement on 6 April 2009 for health reasons".

References

1956 births Living people People from Smolensk Belarusian generals Interior ministers of Belarus Belarusian ice hockey people Immigrants to Belarus Belarusian individuals subject to the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctions Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List {{Belarus-politician-stub