Colonel Yury Zakharanka ( Belarusian: ''Юрый Захаранка'',

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

: ''Юрий Захаренко'', ''Yuri Zakharenko''; January 1, 1952 – 1999) was the

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

Minister of Internal Affairs Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

and opposition politician abducted and likely killed in 1999.

Early life

Yury Zakharanka was born in a small town of Vasilyevichy, Rechytsa Raion.

Political career

At the moment when

gained independence Zakharanka was deputy chief of the USSR

MVD The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (MVD; russian: Министерство внутренних дел (МВД), ''Ministerstvo vnutrennikh del'') is the interior ministry of Russia. The MVD is responsible for law enfor ...

Inter-regional Directorate for Combating Organized Crime. In 1994 he was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs of Belarus. On October 16, 1995 he was dismissed from this position by president

Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (as transliterated from Russian language, Russian; also transliterated from Belarusian language, Belarusian as Alyaksand(a)r Ryhoravich Lukashenka;, ; rus, Александр Григорьевич Лука� ...

. Zakharanka joined the opposition to the president and was elected member of the governing board of the

United Civic Party of Belarus The United Civic Party (UCP; be, Аб'яднаная грамадзянская партыя; АГП, Abjadnanaja hramadzianskaja partyja; AHP; russian: Объединённая гражданская партия; ОГП, Obyedinonnaya grazhdans ...

. Having strong support among top officers in the army and the State Security Committee (KGB), Zakharanka was a dangerous enemy for Lukashenko.

Abduction

The ex-minister

disappeared An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person by a state or political organization, or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organiza ...

on the evening of May 7, 1999. The state did not make serious attempts to search for the politician. Several years later the former MVD official Aleh Alkaeu fled to Germany and stated that he was witness to Zakharanka and several other abducted opposition leaders being murdered on the orders of top government officials. In commemoration of the abducted politicians and political prisoners of Belarus, the Belarusian opposition and its supporters have The Day of Solidarity with Belarus on the 16th of every month. In September 2004, 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 ...

and 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 ...

issued travel bans for five Belarusian officials suspected of being involved in the kidnapping of Zakharanka: Interior Affairs Minister

Vladimir Naumov Vladimir Naumovich Naumov (russian: Влади́мир Нау́мович Нау́мов; 6 December 1927 – 29 November 2021) was a Russian film director and writer. Naumov was named People’s Artist of the USSR in 1983. He was a schoolmate o ...

, Prosecutor General

Viktor Sheiman Viktor Vladimirovich Sheiman ( be, Віктар Уладзіміравіч Шэйман, translit=Viktar Uladzimiravich Sheyman, russian: Виктор Владимирович Шейман, translit=Viktor Vladimirovich Sheyman; born 26 May 195 ...

, Minister for Sports and Tourism

Yuri Sivakov Yuri may refer to: People and fictional characters Given name *Yuri (Slavic name), the Slavic masculine form of the given name George, including a list of people with the given name Yuri, Yury, etc. *Yuri (Japanese name), also Yūri, feminine Jap ...

, and Colonel Dmitry Pavlichenko from the Belarus Interior Ministry. In December 2019,

Deutsche Welle Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave" in English), abbreviated to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service con ...

published a documentary film in which Yury Harauski, a former member of a special unit of the Belarusian Ministry of Internal Affairs, confirmed that it was his unit that had arrested, taken away and murdered Zakharanka, and that they later did the same with

Viktar Hanchar Viktar Hanchar, or Viktar Hančar ( be, Віктар Ганчар, russian: Виктор Гончар, Viktor Gonchar, September 7, 1957 – September 16, 1999?) was a Belarusian politician who disappeared and was presumably murdered in 1999. He w ...

and Anatol Krasouski.

References

External links

Where are Belarus' disappeared oppositionists?
on hri.org
Zakharanka case on Charter97.org

Oleg Alkaev: Video Records of Zakharenko, Gonchar and Krasovsky’s Murders Exist Indeed

Orders to Annihilate Zakharenko, Gonchar and Krasovsky Emanated from Sheiman and Sivakov

Solidarity with Belarus
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zakharanka, Yury 1952 births 1990s missing person cases Belarusian generals Interior ministers of Belarus Missing people Missing person cases in Belarus People from Rechytsa District United Civic Party of Belarus politicians Year of death unknown

Early life

Political career

Abduction

See also

References

External links