On May 7, at about 9 p.m., Zakharenko phoned his wife to say that he would be home shortly, but never appeared. Later that evening, his wife notified the police, although they have yet to determine what happened to him.

Zakharenko was dismissed from the post of Minister of Internal Affairs in 1996 as a result of his opposition to President Lukashenko’s increasing hold on power. More recently, he has been active in the presidential campaign of Mikhail Chigir, the former Prime Minister now jailed on charges Zakharenko says are fabricated by Lukashenko. Zakharenko has also been outspoken in his criticism of Lukashenko’s attempt to extend his term in office. As a result of his opposition activities, Zakharenko has been under the careful surveillance of the authorities, who, he believes, had been following him for the past several weeks.

Zakharenko’s disappearance is especially disturbing when viewed in the context of the rapid deterioration of human rights in Belarus in the past several months since the beginning of the campaign to hold opposition presidential elections. In February, Andrei Sannikov, the Charter 97 international coordinator, and two colleagues, Oleg Bebenin and Dmitry Bondarenko, were severely beaten. In March, Victor Gonchar, the chairman of the opposition Central Electoral Commission, spent ten days in jail where he was beaten and otherwise mistreated. Later that month, Mikhail Chigir, one of two opposition presidential candidates, was arrested on dubious embezzlement charges and jailed. In April, Tamara Vinnikova, the former chairwoman of the Belarusian National Bank, who had been under house arrest since 1997, disappeared. In addition to these well-publicized cases, hundreds of opposition activists and members of opposition electoral commissions have been beaten, detained, fined, and harassed.

All of these events undermine universal standards for human rights and democracy and have served to further isolate Belarus from the international community. The League has long been disturbed by your government’s systematic crackdown on peaceful dissent and calls on you to order the immediate and thorough investigation of the disappearance of Yuri Zakharenko.

Thank you for your attention. We await your response.

Sincerely,