BELARUS…

Viktor Hanchar and Anatol Krasouski, two prominent opponents of Belarusan dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka, disappeared while driving home in Minsk during the night of September 16-17 and have not been seen since. Hanchar is the recently elected chairman-designate of the parliament that Lukashenka forcibly dissolved in 1996, and Krasouski, one of country’s few substantial private businessmen, is a financial backer of opposition activities. Other political “disappearances” include the former Minister of Internal Affairs Yuri Zakharenka, who vanished May 17, and Tamara Vinnikava, former president of the Belarus National Bank, who vanished last April 17 while under around-the-clock protection by government security forces. The whereabouts of former Prime Minister Mikhail Chyhir, however, are known: He has been held in a Minsk prison for six months but has yet to be charged with any crime.