[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 62 (Tuesday, May 8, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E749]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


 SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF THE DISAPPEARANCE OF GENERAL YURY ZAKHARENKO OF 
                                BELARUS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 8, 2001

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about the last 
dictatorship in Europe--the regime of Aleksandr Lukashenka in the 
former Soviet state of Belarus. The Lukashenka regime is one of the 
most notorious human rights abusers in the world, routinely suppressing 
the rights of the Belorusian citizens. May 7th marks the second 
anniversary of one of the most celebrated human rights abuses allegedly 
perpetrated by the regime--the not-so-mysterious disappearance of 
General Yury Zakharenko, former Belarusian Minister of Internal 
Affairs.
  In 1995, General Zakharenko resigned his post in protest and 
attempted to form a union of officers to support democracy in Belarus. 
He also supported former Prime Minister Mikhail Chigir in an 
alternative presidential election held in May 1999 to replace 
Lukashenka at the legal end of his term on July 20, 1999. On May 7, 
1999, Gen. Zakharenko disappeared while walking home and has not been 
heard from since. Sadly, Gen. Zakharenko is not unique. Others who 
dared to challenge the regime appear to have suffered the same fate. 
Victor Gonchar, Deputy Chairman of the legitimate parliament, the 13th 
Supreme Soviet; his associate Anatoly Krasovsky; and Dmitry Zavadsky, a 
cameraman for the Russian television station ORT, have all disappeared 
without explanation.
  Since the day Gen. Zakharenko vanished, all evidence has pointed to 
the Lukashenka regime as being responsible for his disappearance. The 
regime has not made a serious effort to account for Gen. Zakharenko. 
Rather than investigate, the regime has targeted the missing general 
for personal attack, accusing him of fleeing the country or going into 
hiding to embarrass Lukashenko. Gen. Zakharenko's family was forced to 
seek refuge in Western Europe to escape the regime's harassment. The 
regime has also tried to silence human rights activists, such as Oleg 
Volchek, who have attempted to find Gen. Zakharenko. Last November, 
when an anonymous letter reputed to be from officers of the Belarusian 
KGB (BKGB) accusing Lukashenka of blocking the investigation of 
disappearances in Belarus became public, Lukashenka sacked the head of 
the BKGB and the Prosecutor General. The Belarusian dictator also 
promised a serious investigation, but the regime has made no progress 
in the intervening six months and reports of increased pressure on 
investigators have surfaced.
  Under the current dictatorship in Belarus, it would be impossible for 
such stonewalling and denial to take place without the approval of 
Lukashenka himself. Lukashenka even went as far as to state in November 
of last year, that he is personally responsible for accounting for Gen. 
Zakharenko and the other disappeared. This is a responsibility that the 
international community cannot let the Belarusian dictator escape from. 
The United States, the European Union, member states of the 
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the U.N. Working 
Group on Involuntary Disappearances, the Swedish Social Democratic 
Party, and international human rights NGOs have all called on the 
Lukashenka dictatorship to find the disappeared. I regret that the 
Russian Government is conspicuously absent from these ranks. This, in 
my view, sends a negative signal about the Russian Federation's view of 
its role in promoting democracy outside of its borders.
  The Belarusian people also want an explanation, as the repeated 
statements by Belarusian democratic leaders and human rights advocates 
show. Even high officials in the regime have expressed privately their 
displeasure with Lukashenka's handling of the disappearances.
   Until the Lukashenka regime accounts for Gen. Zakharenko, Deputy 
Chairman Gonchar, Mr. Krasovsky, and Mr. Zavadsky, one can neither 
expect a normalization in the international community's relations with 
Belarus nor an end to the climate of fear gripping the country. The 
Lukashenka regime needs to act immediately to find these brave 
democrats and Belarusian patriots. This issue of Gen. Zakharenko and 
the other disappeared will not go away, just as the issue of the 
disappeared in Chile did not go away, just as the issue of the Polish 
officers ``disappeared'' at Katyn did not go away, just as the issue of 
the disappearance of Swedish hero Raoul Wallenberg will not go away. 
Rather, with each new day the missing go unaccounted for, the call for 
the truth behind their disappearances will only grow louder, haunting 
those responsible for these crimes.

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