Alena Zakharanka: “We know when father was abducted, but we do not know when and how he died…”
- 3.05.2008, 9:05
9 years ago, on May 7, 1999 a former Interior Minister of Belarus Yury Zakharanka was forcibly abducted not far from his house.
Today law-enforcing agencies investigate thee cases concerning Yury Zakharanka at once. But none of them was finished over these nine years.
“The first case is a criminal investigation case. It is investigated by the Interior Affairs department of Minsk city executive committee,” a representative of Zakharanka’s family, a former investigator of the prosecutor’s office Aleh Vouhak said. “This case is closed only when a person is found, it s not suspended ever”.
The second criminal case was brought up by the Prosecutor’s office of Minsk under the article “Murder”. It has been prolonged until June 24. In fact, over the nine years the investigation had been suspended only once, for three months. But it is investigated only formally. Investigator Kukharyonak does not inform relatives or their legal representatives how the investigation had proceeded, what versions are studied. We only get a short document that the case is extended for three months again, and that we would be informed about the results additionally. Over these nine years we have enter into the records all magazine articles, all publications. Investigators have enough information to summon and question as witnesses high-ranking Belarusian officials.
And the third case is a civil case for recognizing Yury Zakharanka dead. This case has been suspended allegedly in connection with the fact that the criminal case hadn’t been followed through. So the court cannot take such a decision. But in fact it’s not a hindrance. To my mind, the regime is simply afraid of recognizing Zakharanka dead. Volha and her daughters even cannot sell the apartment in Minsk.
By the way, limitation of actions under the “Murder” article is 25 years. And 9 years have passed already…
I would like to address witnesses of Zakharanka’s assassination, investigators and field investigators responsible for his case. Recollect your courage, tell the truth about Yury Zakharanka’s case. It could be too late.
Yury Zakharanka’s family lives in Germany recent years. His wife, two daughters and a grandchild have been granted political asylum.
“May 7 is a tragic day for us. On this day all our life had collapsed in one moment,” the elder daughter of the former minister Alena Zakharanka said to Narodnaya Volya. “Earlier, thinking about our father, we were crying, but now we have no more tears. Even so we are crying here almost every day… Nostalgia for our native land, our home, earlier happy life, unfortunately, cannot be cured…
We know that when our father was abducted, but we do not know when and how he died. We do not know what was done with him after abduction: how and where he was tortured, bullied…
I demonstrated my son a video recording recently, where he lies on his granddaddy’s tummy. Father was telling him: “Will you come to my grave when you will grow up, little Kiryl? Will you weed nettle?” And we do not even have a possibility to visit his tomb. And where is his burial place? By the way, when a person buries his family member, sees him in a coffin, bid last farewell, but in a little while a person’s heart is consoled somehow. But we haven’t bid farewell to our father. For us he is between heaven and earth. It’s the most awful thing… By the way, I cannot understand still, why he is not recognized dead: so many years have passed…