Action on the First Anniversary of Iury Korban’s Disappearance
On January 20 in the center of Miensk there took place an action devoted to the problem of disappearance of well-known people in Belarus. At first the action organizers wanted to hold it in the Kastrychnitskaia Square. However, due to visit of Vladimir Putin, the action moved to Ianka Kupala park. The center of the city was ringed by the police. Friends and relatives of the missing gathered in near Kupala park and began to move towards Kastrychnitskaia Square, but were stopped by the police.
On 20 January 2003 there passed a year since disappearance of Iury Korban, 24-year-old student of Vitsiebsk State University, the head of “Center of Youth Initiatives “Contour”, activist of the BPF who participated in the presidential campaign.
This action was initiated by relatives of the kidnapped Belarusian politicians and public activists who expressed their concern with Iury Korban’s fate: “We, mothers and wives of the kidnapped politicians and public activists, understand pain and sufferings of Iury Korban’s friends and relatives. We know how difficult it is to wait, how hope weakens with every upcoming day. We also know pretty well how our law machinery works. Today we want to remind you, those who live in Belarus, that the State doesn’t guarantee our security, nobody is safe from such tragedies and grief can knock on your door at any moment. The most terrible thing is to be left alone with it.”
After the unsuccessful attempt to get to Kastrychnitskaia Square about 50 action participants went to the building of Belarusian State TV and Radio Company in Chyrvonaia Street and then to the House of Press in order to pass appeals to the heads of the State mass media that either hush up the problem of political disappearances in Belarus or give perverted and insulting information.
