2001 press releases

Opposition Activist Unaccounted For After Two Years (May 7, 2001)

On May 7, 1999, Gen. Yury Zakharenko, former Belarusian Minister of Internal Affairs, disappeared while walking near his home. He has not been heard from since. Gen. Zakharenko was dismissed from his cabinet post by Belarus' authoritarian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko four years earlier. At the time of his disappearance he was a leading activist in an alternative presidential election campaign against Lukashenko.
 
The United States is deeply concerned that in the two years since Gen. Zakharenko vanished, Belarusian authorities have made no serious attempt to investigate his case or the subsequent disappearances of Deputy Parliamentary Chairman Victor Gonchar, his associate Anatoly Krasovsky, or TV cameraman Dimitry Zavadsky.

The families of the disappeared and the people of Belarus have a right to know the truth about what happened. The United States again urges the Belarusian authorities to investigate expeditiously, thoroughly, and openly all the disappearances. We also want to reassure the families that they and their loved ones are not forgotten.