Full "Harauski's List": Everything We Know About Probable Death Squad Members
- 25.12.2019, 13:08
New information.
The resonance coming from the confession of the former SOBR special police unit fighter Yury Harauski has been not letting up throughout the last week. On December 24, the website of the association of special forces veterans "Honor" published an appeal to Harauski from the former commander of the unit, Dzmitry Paulichenka, and his colleagues. Former comrades-in-arms accused Harauski of "getting even," calling him a "rat". Belsat.eu has gathered all the known facts about the people, whom Harauski called involved in killing Lukashenka's opponents.
Dzmitry Paulichenka
53-year-old reserve colonel Dzmitry Paulichenka today heads the Belarusian Association of Special Forces Veterans of the Interior Ministry "Honor". His son Artsiom followed in his father's footsteps and serves as platoon commander of the intelligence company in military unit 3214. Pavlichenko Sr. was the commander of the Third Separate Red Banner Brigade of the Interior Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (deployed in the unit 3214) from the end of 1999 to 2008.
His fighters regularly participated in brutal dispersal of peaceful demonstrations in Minsk. But this man has entered the history of Belarus owing to the report of former criminal police chief, General Mikalai Lapatsik, published in 2001.
The document stated that on the order of then Secretary of State of the Security Council Viktar Sheiman, Paulichenka and his subordinates from the SOBR special police unit physically liquidated former Interior Minister Yury Zakharanka, former CEC chairman Viktar Hanchar and businessman Anatol Krasouski. They all were Lukashenka's opponents and disappeared without a trace in 1999.
On November 22, 2000, then KGB head Uladzimir Matskevich signed a decree on Paulichenka's preventive detention for 30 days as a possible head of a criminal group. However, just a couple of days later he was released from the detention center by Lukashenka's personal order, and until 2008, the unit commander remained in his post.
In 2008, Paulichenka was appointed Deputy Commander of the Public Order Protection Corps of the Interior Ministry for combat training, and a year later he resigned due to health reasons. According to media reports, he lives in his house in Lepel. He is married to a lieutenant of the medical service, who worked at the military unit 3214. The daughter from the first marriage lives in Toronto.
Dzmitry Paulichenka is under the sanctions of the United States and the European Union, and he is banned from entering there. He denies his involvement in abducting the politicians.
Dzmitry Karpovich
According to the DW interview with Harauski, Dzmitry Karpovich was involved in the abduction of Yury Zakharanka. He was in one of the two cars, where the SOBR fighters were waiting for Zakharanka to park his car and head to the entrance.
In the early 2000s, Dzmitry Karpovich was a captain and served as first deputy chief of staff of the 1st Special Forces Battalion at the military unit 3214. By Decree № 335 of June 26, 2002, Karpovich was awarded the Order "For Service to the Motherland," III degree, for "exemplary performance of military and service duties, high professional skills and special awards" during the Berazina-2002 operational and tactical exercises.
In 2005, a person with such a name registered as an individual entrepreneur in Pinsk, but in 2010 he was excluded from the unified state register because of the "lack of commercial activity".
Siarhei Shkindzerau
"Shkindzerau and I - we were higher - when we learned that Zakharanka had parked and went towards the house, we followed him," - Harauski said.
With the words "Hands behind your back," the fighters handcuffed the former minister and put him in the back seat of the car. At that time, Shkindzerau, who was born in 1979, was only 20.
This year Siarhei Shkindzerau has participated in the Flame of the World sports relay race in Horki on the eve of the European Games. He appeared in the piece of the STV channel as "assistant chairman of a commercial bank". The report of the local edition of Gorki News calls this institution "Priorbank", part of the Austrian Raiffessen Bank Group International. It also says that Shkindzerau is a master of sports in judo, hand-to-hand combat and has a maroon beret.
Priorbank's website does not mention Shkindzerau, the only interview he has given in his life is that short commentary on that relay race. It is not known how he got into the banking industry and built his career after serving in SOBR.
Yury Harauski is Shkindzerau's friend in Odnoklassniki.
Aliaksandr Kazheunikau
According to Harauski, Kazheunikau was involved in abducting Zakharenka, as well as "worked on Krasouski". The clothes of killed Hanchar and Krasouski were put into one big bag, Kazheunikau doused it with petrol and burned, Harauski recalls.
By his Decree No 336 of 20.07.2004, Aliaksandr Kazheunikau was awarded the medal "For Courage" with the wording "for personal courage, bravery and selflessness shown while detaining criminals and armed criminal groups". At that time, he was a senior warrant officer and commander of the SOBR special operations team No. 1 at the military unit 3214.
Kazheunikau stayed on service in the special forces at least until 2011, as evidenced by the report from the championship on practical shooting among the special purpose units of the Belarusian Physical Culture and Sports Society "Dynama". Representatives of the internal troops, including Kazheunikau, took the 3rd place in the championship.
"Captain Aliaksandr Kazheunikau, a serviceman of the military unit 3214, takes part in the competition not for the first time. Last year he shot all the targets using a Makarov pistol and was awarded the title of Master of Sport. This year the shooter has proved it", - the column "Chronicle of Service" dated October 27, 2011 on the sb.by website says.
The championship was held at the Valoushchyna range, where, according to Yury Harauski, Zakharanka was shot in 1999.
Pankou
Together with Aliaksandr Kazheunikau, SOBR special police unit fighter Pankou went to meet Zakharanka near his house.
"They showed him the documents: "We are police officers, please sit in the car," Harauski recalls. According to him, they also abducted Hanchar together: Pankou handcuffed the politician, put a baldachin on his head and gagged him.
It was not possible to find out about Pankou's further life; we have not found any information about such a fighter in the open sources.
Aliaksei Rumiantsau
Harauski does not give details of Rumiantsau's participation in the "death squadron" to the DW. He only mentions that he was in the car that was used to abduct Zakharanka. There is no information about his awards on the Internet.
When visiting the account in Odnoklassniki, which is signed as "Aliaksei Rumiantsau" in the Google search engine, the name changes to another - "Sasha Mayami". The page of this man indicates that he served at the military unit 3214 in 1997-1999. Sviataslau Balynin, another member of the "death squadron" according to Harauski's story, is among his friends.
Aliaksei Rumiantsau is married, has a son, Yury, who studied at an Olympic reserve school, and a younger daughter. His wife Natallia travels a lot in Europe. His family lives in the village of Dachnaye near Minsk.
He reacted emotionally to his former colleague's confession, calling Harauski's words "raving nonsense".
Uladzimir Navatarski
Another alleged participant in abducting Zakharanka, SOBR special police unit sniper Uladzimir Navatarski was awarded the Order "For Service to the Motherland," III degree, by Lukashenka's decree № 124 of 14.03.2005.
His name was first mentioned in connection with the "death squadron" by a former Interior troops fighter, who wished to remain anonymous, in the independent media back in 2001. His story mostly corresponds to Yury Harauski's one. According to the anonymous, Navatarski had a maroon beret and stayed in the special forces under a contract after the compulsory military service.
18 years later, former IC investigator Yauhen Yushkevich wrote on his Twitter page that Uladzimir Navatarski was working for the IT company "WebKonta", which creates programs for accounting.
Sviataslau Balynin
According to Harauski, he saw Sviataslau Balynin when the SOBR officers brought Hanchar and Krasouski's bodies to the military base near Biahoml to bury them.
The testimony of the former Interior Ministry fighter of 2001 also mentions Balynin: "The service of this group ["death squad"] was carried out in such a way that in general nobody knew what kind of missions were performed, except for their actual performers and, of course, the commander. The orders were given by Paulichenka. There was also a warrant officer - Balynin - named Balu. But Paulichenka always gave commands personally. They did not take Balu on assignments - he was fat, clumsy.
It seems that Chief Warrant Officer Balynin and Paulichenka are relatives, not just friends. Balynin appears on the photo in social networks with his wife, son and Paulichenka's daughter from the first marriage, Valeryja. Valeryja is labeled as Balynin's niece on Odnoklassniki.
For a long time Balynin was Paulichenka's deputy in the "Honor" association. It is not known where the special forces veteran works now, but he obviously has enough money to travel around Europe.
Uladzimir Vashkevich
Harauski does not specify in the interview what exactly Uladzimir Vashkevich was doing, but mentions his name in his list of those involved in the murder.
There is one known Vashkevich associated with SOBR - he was its long-term commander. Unlike his colleagues, Uladzimir Vashkevich got an opportunity for advancement. After the Military Academy in the late 90's, Vashkevich was assigned to the 1st special forces company at the military unit 3214, and in 2002, he headed SOBR and commanded the unit until 2014.
Vashkevich rose to the rank of a colonel, was awarded the Order "For Personal Courage" and "For Service to the Motherland" III degree.
Uladzimir Budzko and Yury Budzko
Harauski testifies that on the day after Hanchar and Krasouski were killed, Uladzimir Budzko together with the APC driver got Krasouski's jeep into the pit, crushed it and buried not far from a country road near Biahoml.
The ex-fighter claims in his new interview to DW that he and Budzko were convicted for extorting money from entrepreneurs at Paulichenka's request in 2001. Budzko was allegedly sentenced to a three-year term with the possibility of serving the sentence at the place of residence.
There is no information about Yury Budzko in open sources, except for Harauski's testimony, he claims that he, together with Balynin, was present at the burial of Hanchar and Krasouski's bodies.
... and others
There are also two drivers on the "Harauski's list". In 2001, an anonymous source claimed that "mechanized company soldier Miakiyanets" drove away Krasouski's jeep from the site near the bath-house where the detention had taken place. Pavel Sharamet and Sviatlana Kalinkina's book "The Accidental President," contains interviews with Andrei Zharnasek [the head of an unregistered youth organization that searches for missing politicians] and KGB officer Hennadz Uhlianitsa. Zharnasek claimed that a fighter named Vital Miatselski was a witness to the abduction, while Aliaksandr Miakiyanets was an actual participant.
"They put Miakiyanets behind the wheel, threw these people [Hanchar and Krasouski] into cars and went to the base in Biahoml," - he said.
Additionally, Lieutenant Koklin and Ensign Murashka are listed as persons involved in the book.
Opposition leaders Yury Zakharanka and Viktar Hanchar, businessman Anatol Krasouski and journalist Dzmitri Zavadski disappeared without a trace in 1999-2000.
Late in the evening of May 7, 1999, Yury Zakharanka was abducted near Zhukovsky Avenue in Minsk and taken by car to an unknown destination.
At night of September 17, 1999, the politician Viktar Hanchar and businessman Anatol Krasouski were kidnapped at 20a Fabrychnaya Street in Minsk.
In the afternoon of July 7, 2000, journalist Dzmitry Zavadski disappeared on the way to the airport from his house in Minsk.
The corpses of Zakharanka, Hanchar, Krasouski and Zavadski have not been found yet.