Opposition youths ask Minsk city authorities to name street after disappeared Yury Zakharanka | Belarus |
Youths of the United Civic Party have asked the Minsk City Executive Committee to name a street in the city after opposition politician Yury Zakharanka who disappeared in 1999.
On January 4, the day of Mr. Zakharanka`s 56th birthday, members of the party`s Young Democrats organization visited Mahilyowskaya Street in Minsk where the politician is believed to have been kidnapped.
Young Democrats deputy head Mikhail Pashkevich told BelaPAN that Mr. Zakharanka had been the first interior minister after the first presidential election held in 1994 and deserved to have a street named after him.
"We should remind people what politicians they were and what they did for Belarus," Mr. Pashkevich said.
Mr. Zakharanka, who became an outspoken opponent of
Alyaksandr Lukashenka after being dismissed by him in October 1995,
disappeared on his way home in Minsk at about 9 p.m. on May 7, 1999.
Believing that the authorities took no steps to find the politician,
opposition parties formed an independent commission to investigate his
disappearance. The commission reported that a witness had seen five or
six people in civilian clothes kidnapping Mr. Zakharanka. The
kidnappers reportedly pushed the former interior minister into a car
and drove away.
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