REPORT ON THE ENFORCED OR INVOLUNTARY DISAPPEARANCE OF A PERSON
I. Identity of the person subjected to enforced or involuntary disappearance
1. Family name:
Zakharenko2. First name: Yuri
3. Sex: Male
4. Birth date or age (at time of disappearance): 04. 01.1952
5. Nationality (ies): Belarusian
6. Civil status (single, married, etc.): married, 25-year old daughter
7. Identity document: attempts to find his passport failed; Zakharenko probably kept it with him at time of abduction.
8. Profession: police major-general, ex-Minister for Internal Affairs
9. Address of usual residence: Belarus, Minsk, Zhukovskogo 9/1street, apartment 81
10. Activities: (trade union, political, religious, humanitarian/solidarity, press, etc.)
July 21, 1994 – General Zakharenko was appointed Minister for Internal Affairs of Belarus. He supported the democratic Parliament in its confrontation against the president. Consequently, he was released of his duties on October 16, 1995. Zakharenko was an active participant of almost all of the public actions of opposition. February 1998, Yuri joined the National Executive Committee, made up of the opposition members. Soon, he became the chair of the NEC Security Committee.
II. Date of disappearance
11. Year, month, day and hour when missing person was arrested or abducted: approximately after 9 p.m., May 7 1999
12. Year, month, day and hour when missing person was last seen:
same day, a couple of hours before the incident
13. Other indications relating to date of disappearance:
His phone has been always tapped by security services. Two unidentified cars would follow him wherever he went. Last couple of weeks a military vehicle with no number- plates was parked opposite his house. Usually this type of vehicles cannot be left in residential areas. Zakharenko has numerously received threats. Reportedly, he has been warned by former colleagues from law-enforcement bodies that there had come a secret order to neutralize him.
On the day of his disappearance Yuri Zakharenko gave his wife a call from the parking lot, where he had left his car and promised to be back home in 10 minutes. However, he would never show up again. His wife attempted to phone him back but his mobile phone answered no more.
III. Place of disappearance
(Please indicate as precisely as possible country, province, city, location, etc. and if identical with home address)
14. Place where missing person was arrested or abducted:
Belarus, Minsk, somewhere near Zhukovskogo street, on the road from a parking place to Zakharenko’s place of residence.
15. Place where missing person was last seen:
A few hours before the incident, Yuri Zakharenko together with Ludmila Maisenya visited a private apartment in Very Horuzhei street to watch the documentary about Gennady Karpenko. As mentioned by the owner of the apartment, it took the guests around 2 hours to watch it. He also reported about the depressed mood of Zakharenko, which could have been caused by the constant surveillance the general was exposed to.
16. If subsequent to the disappearance of the person information was received about him/her being detained, please indicate, if possible, the places (official or others) and period of detention, as well as the source of the information, in particular witnesses who have seen the disappeared person in captivity. (Do you wish the identity of the witnesses or sources to be kept confidential?):
No information has been received so far and his destiny remains unknown. However, inquiries about his detention have been made at KGB, police and others. Allegedly, he is not kept in either of them.
17. Other indications concerning the place of disappearance:
20-25 meters deep sewage wells are in abundance in the area. To study them, special equipment is needed. But as soon as it is arranged, the Public Committee on this disappearance will explore their inside.
IV. Forces believed to be responsible for the disappearance
18. If the person was arrested or abducted, please indicate who carried out the arrest: military, police, persons in uniform or civilian clothes, agents of security services, unidentified; whether these agents identified themselves (with credentials, orally, etc.); whether they were armed; whether they appeared to act with impunity; whether a vehicle was used (official, with or without licence plages, etc.):
No information concerning the persons who have committed abduction is available.
19. If the forces or agents who carried out the arrest or abduction cannot be identified, state why you believe that Government authorities, or persons linked to them, are responsible for the disappearance:
Zakharenko was an extremely undesirable person to the regime. He was highly respected by law-enforcement bodies, which the regime rests upon. He has multiply called upon his former associates not to support the president. In view of Lukashenko’s running out of office after July 20, the position that the police and similar services stick to, will decide the future of the regime. It should be noted that its popularity has largely gone down, due to substantial decreases in their salaries. So, it’s by brutal force alone that the authorities can control the situation. Thus, it is no wonder that under present-day circumstances the state-owned media completely overlooked the disappearance of the ex-Minister.
20. If the arrest or abduction took place in the presence of witnesses indicate the names of the witnesses. If the witnesses have not identified themselves or wish to withhold their names, indicate if they are relatives, neighbours, bypassers etc.:
Tenants of the houses, close to the area of disappearance, were interrogated by Public Committee on Zakharenko’s case. Some of them heard a person shouting "Anyone, help me!" at the time of disappearance. However, their names are kept strictly confidential for security reasons.
The walls of the houses in the area were covered with notes, asking other potential witnesses or anyone knowledgeable to contact the Public Committee on Zakharenko’s disappearance at +375-017-263-04-82 and +375-017-284-94-52.
21. If any written evidence of the arrest exists, please describe (arrest order, communiqués, official notes, letters, etc.):
No sign of arrest or anything of the kind.
22. If a search took place at the missing person's domicile, office of place of work (or that of any other person connected with him/her), before, during or after the disappearance, please indicate and describe the search:
The search was carried out in Yuri’s house, after his wife had called police. The only items, which the police seemed to be interested in, were Zakharenko’s notes, which they carried away. Nothing else, related to the case was found.
23. If someone was questioned concerning the disappeared person by agents of the security services, official authorities or other persons related to them, before or after the arrest (or disappearance), please indicate and provide available information concerning the questioning:
Zakharenko is wanted by the police, but the effectiveness of their actions is doubtful. They do it rather reluctantly. So far, no witnesses have been found and interrogated. Which is more strange, criminal action has not been started out yet.
C. Other measures taken at the national level
(Letters, petitions, etc., or other steps taken before the civil or military authorities):
VI. Measures taken at the international level on behalf of the missing person
24. Organizations addressed:
Olga Zakharenko sent a letter to the International League for Human Rights to report the case to the UN CRH Working Group on Disappearances. Similarly, Amnesty International was contacted to force the Belarusian leadership to stop the terror and investigate into the case.
25. Date: May 13, 1999
26. Result (date and nature): still waiting for reply
VII. Related cases of arrest or disappearance, in particular missing relatives of children
27. Please give a narrative account indicating relevant names, dates and places:
28. If the missing person was pregnant at the time of disappearance, please indicate the date on which her baby might have been born:
VIII. Information concerning the author of the present report
29. Surname: Zakharenko
30. First name: Olga
31. Nationality (ies): Belarusian
32. Relationship with the missing person: wife
33. Present address: Belarus, Minsk, Zhukovskogo 9/1, apartment 81
Telephone: 00375-172 (24-05-79)
IX. Confidentiality
34. Please state whether the author of the present report wishes his/her identity to be kept confidential:
Note: If any information contained in the present report should be kept confidential please print the world "CONFIDENTIAL" beside the relevant entry.
X. Date: 14.05.1999
Signature of author: