About the case of disappearance of the cameraman of the Russian Public Television Dmitriy Zavadskiy and the opposition politician Victor Gonchar! I am the officer of the Committee of the State Security (KGB) of the Republic of Belarus. Due to certain circumstances I can’t tell my name and my post in KGB. The information I’m going to give is of great importance. On how soon this information will become known, depend lives and future of many people. Unfortunately I’m short on facts because only limited number of KGB officers and special operations group officers have access to the evidences and documents of the case. Revealing of more details can lead to unwarranted victims. KGB and the National Security Committee were responsible for the investigation of the case of disappearance of Dmitriy Zavadskiy. The facts that were discovered during the investigation initiated not only certain pressure on the investigating agency from the Security Council, but also opposition between KGB and President’s Security Service. On the tracks of kidnappers KGB had gotten after the arrest of Ignatovich, a former officer of the special division “Almaz” (“Diamond”). Ignatovich was arrested on another case, but he had been to Chechnya several times, where he fought on the side of separatists. During the investigation Ignatovich named several Belorussian military men who were co-operating as instructors with separatists from Chechnya. After their arrest the version of investigation connected with Chechnya corroborated. On this very moment 9 people are arrested on the case of disappearance of Zavadskiy. 5 of them were working as officers of President’s Security Service, two used to work there before, one of the arrested is ex-officer of the special division “Almaz”, and two more are native Chechen. The accused confessed in the murder of Dmitriy Zavadskiy and showed the place in the forest area not far from Minsk, where the body was buried. The investigation also recovered a shovel with bloodstains on it. The examination showed that the blood on the shovel was the same blood type as the blood of Dmitriy Zavadskiy. The exhumation of the body of Zavadskiy didn’t occur. The leaders of the Security Council and the President personally resisted efforts to exhume the body of Dmitriy Zavadskiy. Instead the Chairman of KGB Vladimir Mackevich, Prosecutor-General Oleg Bozhelko, and the Minister of Internal Security Vladimir Naumov were summoned to the Administration of the President. The President ordered the case to be given to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, explaining it with the lack of progress in the investigation. But all that was done to bury the case of disappearance of Zavadskiy. During the investigation it was discovered that this criminal group was responsible for the disappearance and murder of opposition politician Victor Gonchar. 14 people took place in their liquidation. Five of them were still wanted when the case was passed to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. During the investigation the pressure on the investigation group had reached the critical point. Two investigators were beaten up, and there was an attempt to rape the wife of one of them. But nevertheless, the investigators continued their work on revealing the criminals. I want the families of the victims to know—we are not beasts as some try to make us look. We strongly feel for your tragedy and understand that nothing can make up for your loss. The only thing we can do is to reveal the criminals. And if somebody tries to cover these criminals, these people won’t avoid jail too. All Belorussian independent mass media and journalists accredited on the territory of the Republic of Belarus received this letter on the 20th of September.
THE BLACK HOLE IN THE SWAMPS  (26.10.2000)

Zmicier Zavadski, ORT* cameraman, disappeared on July 7, 2000, in the international airport Minsk-2. He was supposed to meet there with the ORT reporter Paval Sharamet, but never showed up. Later police found Zavadski’s car parked at the airport parking lot. The search of the airport area yielded no results. Police investigates alleged kidnapping and murder. Yesterday the Belarusian government stated the official version: “Zavadski was kidnapped by the opposition in order to defame Belarusian authorities within the international community.” Mr. Zamiatalin, the first deputy of the presidential administration, has his own point of view: “The kidnapping was organized by Sharamet in order to promote himself before the parliamentary elections. The foreign affairs office suspects the Chechens. It appears that our officials are extremely creative.
The director general of ORT, Konstantin Ernts, asked Lukashenka to speed up the search. “We do not wish to think that the mysterious disappearance of the ORT journalist is a continuation of the action aimed at infringing the freedom of activities of Russian media in Belarus” – he said. “We do not yet have grounds to claim that this disappearance is related to the enigmatic disappearance of several prominent politicians and businessmen in Belarus, but today’s statement of the head of the presidential administration, where he claims that the kidnapping was organized by Paval Sharamet in order to promote his career and political agenda, caused great concern and infuriation. This statement is clearly offensive to ORT.

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*ORT – the major Russian TV company.