July 7, Pozirk. Belarusian cameraman Dźmitryj Zavadski has been missing for 25 years and was last seen on the way to Minsk airport on July 7, 2000.
He was 27 years old at the time of his disappearance.
From 1994 to 1997, Zavadski worked as personal cameraman for Alaksandar Łukašenka before joining Russia’s ORT TV channel.
In the spring of 1997, he was arrested and charged with illegally crossing the Belarusian-Lithuanian border while filming a report together with ORT journalist Pavieł Šaramiet, murdered in Kyiv in 2016.
In late 1999 and early 2000, Zavadski continued collaboration with Šaramiet and worked in Chechnya to shoot the Chechen Diary documentary. Early in the morning of July 7, 2000, Zavadski left home to pick up Šaramiet from the airport and disappeared under unclear circumstances. His car was found at the airport.
Two years later, former commando Valeryj Ihnatovič and Maksim Malik were found guilty of abducting Zavadski and given life sentences at a closed-door trial. In 2004, prosecutors suspended an investigation into Zavadski’s kidnapping because his body was never found.
Later, Łukašenka denied his involvement in high-profile unsolved political kidnappings in 1999 and 2000, including Zavadski as well as his opponents Viktar Hančar, ex-chairman of central election commission, businessman Anatol Krasoŭski and former Interior Minister Juryj Zacharanka.
The Belarusian ruler blamed Zavadski’s disappearance on his links with Ihnatovič, who was allegedly not happy with how he was presented in the Chechnya documentary.
