Case over Zakharanka's disappearance extended for 3 months

The Investigation Committee again extended the case over disappearance of an opposition politician.

Charter97.org learnt it from Aleh Vouchak, a former prosecution investigator and the head of the organisation Legal Assistance to Citizens.

“I received a letter from the Investigation Committee saying that the case over the disappearance of Yury Zakharnka was extended for three months until December 24, 2013. This is a standard reply. I'd like to turn attention to a transcript of interrogation of photo journalist Uladzimir Karmilkin in this case,” the lawyer said.

The human rights defender added that he had received the transcript about five years ago, but the document was still interesting.

“It follows from the document that Yury dropped in on the journalist two or three hours before the disappearance. The general was worrying. He came to the window several times and said someone was watching him. Karmilkin heard next morning that Zakharanka disappeared. He went to the scene of the incident and took some photos. Yury's car was there, but he wasn't inside. A witness confirmed that the general was under surveillance and his disappearance wasn't a coincident. It should be noted that the investigation as carried out by Sviatlana Baikova, who was later sentenced to a prison term for abuse of power,” Aleh Vouchak stressed.

We remind that General Yury Zakharanka disappearance on May 7, 1999. Officially, it happened on Zhukovski Street in Minsk. He was abducted by “unidentified persons” and taken away in a car in an unknown direction. A criminal case over the disappearance of the former minister of defence was initiated only on September 17, 1999, under article 101 of the Criminal Code. Witnesses of the abduction, who were found not by investigators, but by a public commission on searching for the missing general, say Zakharanka was forcefully taken away by several men.

Many people in Belarus and in the world think he was abducted for political reasons and possibly killed. The Belarusian authorities say the investigation is not completed, so reasons for Zakharanka's disappearance and his fate remain unknown.