Court’s Hearing of Zavadsky’s Case Starts On October 24 :: Charter'97 :: News

The Minsk Regional Court determined the date of the court hearing on the case of the Russian public television cameraman, Dmitry Zavadsky’s, disappearance. As the chairman of the court, Georgy Khomich, said to the Interfax agency, the first hearing starts on October, 24. As stated by Khomich, it will be a closed court. He also noted that the court hearings would be carried out in one of the chambers of the Supreme Court of Belarus. It is determined by the fact that the building of the Minsk regional court has no capacious rooms, according to Khomich.

Cameraman of the Public Russian TV, Dmitry Zavadsky, went missing on July 7, 2001. The investigators think that he was kidnapped by a bunch of criminals headed by Valery Ignatovich, a former member of the squad for special purposes “Almaz” of the Interior Ministry. The investigation found out that this mob, including a working member of the “Almaz” as well, had performed numerous cruel crimes on the territory of Belarus, including the abduction of Zavadsky.

The details of the criminal activities of this group are contained in 38 volumes of the criminal case, which contains 25 episodes. 170 examinations were carried out on this case, 1000 witnesses were interrogated, including 500 witnesses on the abduction of Zavadsky.

The investigators think that the reason of the crime is Ignatovich’s revenge for Zavadsky’s interview to “Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta”, where he actually confirmed the involvement of Ignatovich to the war in Chechnya on the side of rebels.

According to the materials of the criminal case, the abduction of Dmitry Zavadsky was carried out “on his way from Minsk to the airport”, where he went to meet Russian Public Television reporter Pavel Sheremet. The examination proved that on a little shovel from Ignatovich’s car ‘biological substance’ belonging to Zavadsky was found. The criminal mob was charged with “kidnapping and illegal deprivation of freedom” of Zavadsky. Four members of the criminal band were detained.

However, the law enforcers do not give a definite answer if Zavadsky is alive or not, and his whereabouts, and if he is dead, where is his body.

The former men of the Belarusian Public Prosecutor’s office Dmitry Petrushkevich and Oleg Sluchek, who worked in a group investigating Zavadsky’s case, declared that the cameraman is murdered, and his body was buried in the North cemetery it the suburbs of Minsk. They accused in his abduction and assassination a “death squad” formed by authorities for annihilation of their political opponents.